A Comprehensive View of Apple’s Share Buyback Strategy and Its Influence on the Company’s Stock
March 30, 2024
Apple (AAPL) has consistently implemented a share buyback strategy over the past decade The strategy has played a critical role in enhancing the company’s stock, drawing both praise and scrutiny from the financial world.
A share buyback, or a share repurchase, is a financial strategy where a company purchases its own shares from the marketplace. The overall aim of this move to reduce the total number of outstanding shares on the market. By employing this strategy, Apple has been able to leverage its substantial cash reserves to boost its own stock value.
Apple’s implementation of this strategy has had a significant effect on its earnings per share (EPS). This is because the metrices of the EPS are calculated by dividing the net income by the number of outstanding shares. Thus, with fewer shares in play, the EPS is increased. Such improvement in the EPS can make the stock more attractive to investors, leading to stock price appreciation.
Apple’s reliance on this stock buyback program has also led to its success in achieving a $3 trillion market cap, as reported by CNBC in 2022. This aligns with the prediction by Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi that the company would likely continue to repurchase between 3% and 4% of outstanding shares annually.
However there is a ongoing debate about Apple’s extensive dependency on this strategy. Certain investors have expressed concern about the reduction of cash that could have been invested to accelerate organic growth. Following is how much apple has been buying back over the years.
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| December 31, 2023 | 20.14B |
| September 30, 2023 | 21.00B |
| June 30, 2023 | 17.48B |
| March 31, 2023 | 19.59B |
| December 31, 2022 | 19.48B |
| September 30, 2022 | 24.43B |
| June 30, 2022 | 21.86B |
| March 31, 2022 | 22.63B |
| December 31, 2021 | 20.48B |
| September 30, 2021 | 19.75B |
| June 30, 2021 | 22.90B |
| March 31, 2021 | 18.55B |
| December 31, 2020 | 24.78B |
| September 30, 2020 | 17.62B |
| June 30, 2020 | 15.89B |
| March 31, 2020 | 18.15B |
| December 31, 2019 | 20.70B |
| September 30, 2019 | 17.05B |
| June 30, 2019 | 16.95B |
| March 31, 2019 | 23.31B |
| December 31, 2018 | 8.796B |
| September 30, 2018 | 18.76B |
| June 30, 2018 | 20.78B |
| March 31, 2018 | 22.43B |
| December 31, 2017 | 10.10B |
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| September 30, 2017 | 7.514B |
| June 30, 2017 | 7.092B |
| March 31, 2017 | 6.888B |
| December 31, 2016 | 10.85B |
| September 30, 2016 | 5.778B |
| June 30, 2016 | 10.17B |
| March 31, 2016 | 6.421B |
| December 31, 2015 | 6.862B |
| September 30, 2015 | 13.03B |
| June 30, 2015 | 9.985B |
| March 31, 2015 | 6.741B |
| December 31, 2014 | 4.95B |
| September 30, 2014 | 16.70B |
| June 30, 2014 | 4.906B |
| March 31, 2014 | 17.76B |
| December 31, 2013 | 4.895B |
| September 30, 2013 | 4.715B |
| June 30, 2013 | 15.94B |
| March 31, 2013 | -199.00M |
| December 31, 2012 | 1.874B |
| September 30, 2012 | -232.00M |
| June 30, 2012 | -56.00M |
| March 31, 2012 | -286.00M |
| December 31, 2011 | -91.00M |
| September 30, 2011 | -254.00M |