During Q3 of 2013, Fortune 500 companies bought back $128.2 billion of their own shares of stock – the highest level since the Q4 of 2007.  For Q3 of 2013, stock buybacks and dividends paid totaled $207 billion, the highest total in six years.  For the 12-month period ended 9-30-13, companies increased buybacks by 15 percent to $445.3 billion.  The recent Wall Street Journal article revealed that big stock buyback companies have seen their stock prices outperform the overall market.”  It is important to note that stock buybacks reduce a firm’s # of shares outstanding which increases that firm’s EPS, so firms reap this “intangible benefit” with stock buybacks

(Steven Russolillo, “Companies Binge on Share Buybacks,” Wall Street Journal (December 24, 2013), C1.