Buyback Scorecard As Stocks Edge Higher, Buyback Programs Get RiskierBest & Worst CompaniesIndustry Comparisons

The table below ranks the 276 companies in the S&P 500 that bought back at least 4 percent of their shares from March 31, 2013, through March 31, 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—276
	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	The PNC Financial Services Group	Banks	48,549	1,641	3.4	22.4	-6.5	14.5
152	SanDisk Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	13,552	3,625	26.8	28.5	-10.9	14.5
153	Northern Trust Corp.	Diversified Financials	16,272	823	5.1	16.0	-1.4	14.3
154	The Chubb Corp.	Insurance	23,306	2,864	12.3	13.0	1.0	14.1
155	CenturyLink	Telecommunication Services	19,572	2,024	10.3	6.1	7.4	14.0
156	The Priceline Group	Retailing	60,465	1,866	3.1	27.5	-10.8	13.7
157	U.S. Bancorp	Banks	77,851	4,446	5.7	16.8	-2.7	13.6
158	Pfizer	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	213,622	21,341	10.0	14.5	-0.8	13.6
159	United Technologies Corp.	Capital Goods	106,470	5,365	5.0	17.6	-3.6	13.4
160	The Estée Lauder Cos.	Household and Personal Products	31,440	1,318	4.2	12.6	0.5	13.2
161	General Motors Co.	Automobiles and Components	60,569	6,015	9.9	15.3	-1.9	13.1
162	The Goldman Sachs Group	Diversified Financials	81,884	11,369	13.9	13.8	-0.9	12.8
163	Urban Outfitters	Retailing	5,957	627	10.5	-3.1	16.2	12.6
164	DENTSPLY International	Healthcare Equipment and Services	7,142	366	5.1	11.8	0.2	12.0
165	Expeditors International of Washington	Transportation	9,239	872	9.4	7.9	3.3	11.5
166	KeyCorp.	Banks	12,111	773	6.4	22.7	-9.2	11.5
167	Assurant	Insurance	4,229	686	16.2	27.6	-12.7	11.4
168	Colgate-Palmolive Co.	Household and Personal Products	62,880	3,040	4.8	13.9	-2.5	11.0
169	State Street Corp.	Diversified Financials	30,315	4,224	13.9	17.6	-6.0	10.5
170	Kimberly-Clark Corp.	Household and Personal Products	39,117	2,660	6.8	16.3	-5.0	10.4
171	Ecolab	Materials	34,011	1,127	3.3	21.7	-9.3	10.4
172	Wal-Mart Stores	Food and Staples Retailing	265,107	5,732	2.2	12.2	-1.6	10.4
173	The Hershey Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	22,284	985	4.4	16.0	-5.0	10.2
174	United Parcel Service	Transportation	87,492	6,184	7.1	15.0	-4.2	10.1
175	Symantec Corp.	Software and Services	15,944	1,000	6.3	7.8	2.1	10.1
176	Motorola Solutions	Technology Hardware and Equipment	14,446	3,986	27.6	6.8	2.9	9.9
177	McCormick & Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	9,860	426	4.3	7.7	1.9	9.8
178	Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	29,812	1,850	6.2	27.1	-13.9	9.4
179	Target Corp.	Retailing	52,668	1,518	2.9	13.4	-3.6	9.3
180	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	Banks	225,013	8,871	3.9	14.1	-4.4	9.0
181	The Procter & Gamble Co.	Household and Personal Products	221,280	10,259	4.6	10.7	-1.5	9.0
182	Cummins	Capital Goods	25,136	1,188	4.7	12.6	-3.4	8.8
183	General Mills	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	33,739	3,207	9.5	13.4	-4.2	8.7
184	Mondelez International	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	59,181	3,993	6.7	15.7	-6.2	8.6
185	Discover Financial Services	Diversified Financials	25,140	3,019	12.0	22.9	-11.7	8.5
186	Johnson Controls	Automobiles and Components	33,154	2,234	6.7	25.1	-13.3	8.5
187	Torchmark Corp.	Insurance	6,984	913	13.1	20.3	-10.3	7.9
188	People's United Financial	Banks	4,562	321	7.0	12.3	-4.0	7.8
189	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences	279,717	12,860	4.6	19.3	-9.8	7.5
190	St. Jude Medical	Healthcare Equipment and Services	18,320	1,200	6.6	30.1	-17.4	7.5
191	Monsanto Co.	Materials	54,425	54,425	15.3	9.9	-2.3	7.4
192	Altera Corp.	Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment	12,911	964	7.5	3.0	4.3	7.4
193	Bank of America Corp.	Banks	161,909	4,895	3.0	17.2	-8.4	7.3
194	Yum! Brands	Consumer Services	34,117	1,616	4.7	9.1	-1.8	7.1
195	Phillips 66	Energy	42,627	4,545	10.7	12.1	-4.5	7.0
196	eBay	Software and Services	69,946	6,525	9.3	2.3	4.3	6.8
197	CA	Software and Services	14,440	722	5.0	17.4	-9.2	6.7
198	EMC Corp.	Technology Hardware and Equipment	50,528	7,007	13.9	8.1	-1.4	6.5
199	Coca-Cola Enterprises	Food, Beverage and Tobacco	10,297	1,944	18.9	13.8	-6.9	5.9
200	Rockwell Automation	Capital Goods	15,710	970	6.2	15.2	-8.0	5.9
Source: Fortuna Advisors Analysis using data from the Capital IQ database. Financial Data from March 2013 to March 2015. Includes the 492 members of the current S&P 500 that were public for the full period. Market Capitalization as of: 03/31/2015. Companies included here if $ Total Buyback / Market Capitalization is greater than 4% or if $ Total Buyback is greater than $1 billion..