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The Biggest Stock Buybacks With At Least One Billion Firepower

Stock buybacks, also known as share repurchases, occur when companies buy shares of their own stock to reduce the number of shares outstanding.

Stock buybacks can be used to offset stock issued to employees as compensation, or to improve earnings per share by reducing the number of shares by which earnings are divided. Sometimes, companies repurchase stock simply because they believe their shares are undervalued.

Buyback proponents say they reward these long-term shareholders by effectively increasing their ownership of the company, and they help boost the value of a stock by raising the company's earnings per share. And when there's no other compelling use for a company's cash, this is a better alternative than risky spending on takeovers or other big investments.

But the other view on buybacks is that — like the restaurant removing tables — their only impact is in making things look better than they seem. Yes, earnings per share rise, but that's not because earnings are growing. Even their fiercest proponents — somewhat hypocritically — say they're overused.

With that in mind, I've compiled all stocks with a billion dollar buyback announcement during the year 2016. In total, there are exactly 82 companies with such a big share buyback volume.

Here are the results...


Symbol
Company Name
Buyback
AAPL
Apple Inc.
$175 Blln
MSFT
Microsoft Corporation
$40 Bln
CSCO
Cisco Systems Inc.
$15 Bln
AGN
Allergan Inc.
$15 Bln
GILD
Gilead Sciences Inc.
$12 Bln
MMM
3M Co.
$10 Bln
CMCSA
Comcast Corp.
$10 Bln
ORCL
Oracle Corp.
$10 Bln
AGN
Allergan Inc.
$10 Bln
GM
General Motors Company
$9 Bln
UPS
United Parcel Service
$8 Bln
CBS
CBS Corp.
$6 Bln
AMZN
Amazon.com Inc.
$5 Bln
AIG
American International Group
$5 Bln
HON
Honeywell International Inc.
$5 Bln
V
Visa Inc.
$5.0 Bln
TGT
Target Corp.
$5 Bln
YUM
Yum! Brands Inc.
$4.2 Bln
MCK
McKesson Corp.
$4.0 Bln
CELG
Celgene Corporation
$3.0 Bln
AIG
American International Group
$3.0 Bln
SMG
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.
$3 Bln
CTSH
Cognizant Technology Solutions
$3.0 Bln
HPQ
HP Inc.
$3 Bln
IBM
International Business Machines Corp.
$3 Bln
AIG
American International Group, 
$3.0 Bln
MET
MetLife Inc.
$3 Bln
DFS
Discover Financial Services
$2.5 Bln
EBAY
eBay Inc.
$2.5 Bln
SIRI
Sirius XM Holdings Inc.
$2 Bln
MMC
Marsh & McLennan Companies 
$2.5 Bln
SYMC
Symantec Corporation
$2.3 Bln
TJX
The TJX Companies, Inc.
$2 Bln
AAL
American Airlines Group Inc
$2.0 Bln
AMAT
Applied Materials Inc.
$2 Bln
UAL
United Continental Holdings Inc.
$2 Bln
RAI
Reynolds American Inc
$2 Bln
MSI
Motorola Solutions Inc.
$2 Bln
LMT
Lockheed Martin Corp.
$2.0 Bln
PPG
PPG Industries Inc.
$2 Bln
KSS
Kohl`s Corp.
$2.0 Bln
HCA
HCA Holdings Inc
$2 Bln
YUM
Yum! Brands Inc.
$2 Bln
MNST
Monster Beverage Corp.
$1.75 Bln
PRGO
Perrigo Co.
$1.5 Bln
K
Kellogg Company
$1.5 Bln
TRI
Thomson Reuters Corporation
$1.5 Bln
M
Macy's Inc.
$1.5 Bln
TMO
Thermo Fisher Scientific
$1.5 Bln
SSP
E.W. Scripps Company
$1.5 Bln
STT
State Street Corp.
$1.4 Bln
HIG
Hartford Financial Services Group
$1.3 Bln
VMW
VMware Inc.
$1.2 Bln
AKAM
Akamai Technologies Inc
$1 Bln
WYN
Wyndham Worldwide
$1 Bln
DPS
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
$1 Bln
LEA
Lear Corporation
$1 Bln
ADI
Analog Devices
$1 Bln
ADS
Alliance Data Systems Corporation
$1 Bln

ZBH
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.
$1.0 Bln
GPS
Gap Inc.
$1 Bln
BBY
Best Buy Co Inc.
$1 Bln
TEL
TE Connectivity Ltd.
$1.0 Bln
ROK
Rockwell Automation Inc.
$1 Bln
WHR
Whirlpool Corp.
$1 Bln
FFIV
F5 Networks Inc.
$1 Bln
CAH
Cardinal Health Inc
$1 Bln
XL
XL Group plc
$1 Bln
XLNX
Xilinx Inc.
$1 Bln
LNC
Lincoln National Corp.
$1 Bln
RHT
Red Hat Inc.
$1 Bln
CCL
Carnival Corp.
$1 Bln
PHM
PulteGroup, Inc.
$1.0 Bln
ODP
Office Depot Inc.
$1 Bln
DGII
Dollar General Corp
$1.0 Bln
TSCO
Tractor Supply
$1 Bln
NTES
Netease Inc.
$1.0 Bln
MRVL
Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
$1 Bln
CB
The Chubb Corporation
$1 Bln
LRCX
Lam Research Corporation
$1 Bln
EW
Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
$1 Bln