Buyback Scorecard Soaring Buybacks, Sagging ReturnsBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from September 30, 2013, through September 30, 2015. The companies are ranked according to their return on investment from these repurchases. As calculated by Fortuna Advisors, a New York City-based consultancy that compiled the data for Institutional Investor, buyback ROI measures the overall rate of return of buybacks, based on the internal rate of return of the cash flows associated with them. Buyback strategy tracks the performance of the underlying stock in terms of annualized total shareholder return. Once Fortuna determines buyback ROI and buyback strategy, buyback effectiveness can then be calculated as simply the difference between the two, determined as compounded return.

How the S&P 500 Stack Up as Stock Repurchasers 1—50 | 51—100 | 101—150 | 151—200 | 201—250 | 251—299
	Company	Industry	Market Capitalization	$ Total Buyback	$ Total Buyback / Market Cap	Buyback Strategy	Buyback Effectiveness	Buyback ROI
	Average		$48,969	$3,699	9.2%	20.8%	-3.9%	16.3%
	Median		$24,408	$1,949	7.7%	20.1%	-3.6%	16.5%
151	McDonald's Corp.	Consumer Services	92,797	8,257	8.9	3.3	1.8	5.2
152	Target Corp.	Retailing	49,432	2,179	4.4	11.5	-5.6	5.2
153	3M Co.	Capital Goods	88,570	11,430	12.9	15.2	-8.8	5.0
154	Dun & Bradstreet Corp.	Commercial and Professional Services	3,792	215	5.7	6.4	-1.8	4.5
155	AT&T	Telecommunication Services	200,400	3,511	1.8	4.0	0.5	4.5
156	Capital One Financial Corp.	Diversified Financials	39,337	4,606	11.7	11.1	-6.1	4.3
157	LyondellBasell Industries	Materials	38,835	5,979	15.4	16.6	-10.5	4.3
158	Biogen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	68,625	3,885	5.7	21.5	-14.2	4.3
159	PPG Industries	Materials	23,740	1,931	8.1	14.3	-8.8	4.2
160	Wyndham Worldwide Corp.	Consumer Services	8,428	1,251	14.8	16.7	-10.7	4.2
161	Ecolab	Materials	32,378	1,236	3.8	10.9	-6.1	4.1
162	Fifth Third Bancorp	Banks	15,189	1,945	12.8	6.5	-2.4	3.9
163	Texas Instruments	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	50,827	5,679	11.2	15.1	-9.7	3.9
164	MetLife	Insurance	52,661	2,107	4.0	6.9	-3.0	3.7
165	PulteGroup	Consumer Durables and Apparel	6,657	733	11.0	10.7	-6.3	3.7
166	Deere & Co.	Capital Goods	24,284	5,502	22.7	5.5	-2.3	3.1
167	Ingersoll-Rand	Capital Goods	13,472	2,026	15.0	12.5	-8.4	3.1
168	Illinois Tool Works	Capital Goods	30,133	5,955	19.8	11.7	-7.8	2.9
169	Unum Group	Insurance	7,914	677	8.6	7.9	-4.7	2.9
170	JB Hunt Transport Services	Transportation	8,300	435	5.2	4.2	-1.4	2.8
171	Prudential Financial	Insurance	34,371	2,646	7.7	6.1	-3.4	2.5
172	Philip Morris International	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	122,897	5,329	4.3	1.6	0.9	2.5
173	Lincoln National Corp.	Insurance	11,910	1,250	10.5	14.2	-10.3	2.4
174	United Continental Holdings	Transportation	20,040	1,022	5.1	32.4	-22.8	2.3
175	General Electric Co.	Capital Goods	254,632	5,102	2.0	7.0	-4.4	2.3
176	TE Connectivity	Technology Hardware and Equipment	24,099	1,601	6.6	12.3	-9.0	2.2
177	Ameriprise Financial	Diversified Financials	19,449	3,248	16.7	17.9	-13.5	2.0
178	Regions Financial Corp.	Banks	11,937	800	6.7	2.2	-0.6	1.6
179	L-3 Communications Holdings	Capital Goods	8,396	1,884	22.4	12.9	-10.1	1.5
180	The Coca-Cola Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	174,522	7,068	4.0	3.8	-2.2	1.4
181	United Parcel Service	Transportation	88,445	5,695	6.4	8.9	-6.9	1.4
182	ACE	Insurance	33,494	2,241	6.7	9.7	-7.6	1.3
183	BlackRock	Diversified Financials	49,493	2,656	5.4	11.6	-9.4	1.1
184	Colgate-Palmolive Co.	Household and Personal Products	57,122	3,132	5.5	7.3	-5.9	0.9
185	Amgen	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	104,881	1,822	1.7	22.9	-18.1	0.7
186	Motorola Solutions	Technology Hardware and Equipment	12,084	5,904	48.9	6.9	-5.9	0.5
187	Varian Medical Systems	Healthcare Equipment and Services	7,283	1,050	14.4	7.3	-6.8	0.1
188	Rockwell Automation	Capital Goods	13,608	1,084	8.0	10.0	-9.0	0.0
189	Aflac	Insurance	25,036	2,797	11.2	2.7	-2.8	-0.2
190	Merck & Co.	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	139,114	10,904	7.8	11.4	-10.5	-0.3
191	Omnicom Group	Media	16,010	1,575	9.8	7.6	-7.6	-0.5
192	Automatic Data Processing	Software and Services	37,389	2,021	5.4	14.9	-14.3	-1.5
193	Oracle Corp.	Software and Services	154,038	17,853	11.6	10.3	-10.7	-1.5
194	Comerica	Banks	7,313	508	6.9	6.4	-7.5	-1.6
195	The Dow Chemical Co.	Materials	49,119	4,866	9.9	15.1	-14.8	-2.0
196	Xilinx	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	10,967	1,034	9.4	-0.7	-1.8	2.5
197	Corning	Technology Hardware and Equipment	20,988	5,514	26.3	12.6	-13.6	-2.6
198	Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide	Consumer Services	11,327	2,043	18.0	11.5	-12.7	-2.6
199	Legg Mason	Diversified Financials	4,565	695	15.2	19.1	-18.3	-2.6
200	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	258,496	11,006	4.3	6.8	-9.0	-2.8
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from September 2013 to September 2015. Includes the 486 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 09/30/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion..