Welcome to edition 35 of Buyback Wednesdays, a weekly series that tracks the top stock buyback announcements during the prior week.
Buyback activity dropped so sharply last week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and fewer companies reporting earnings that instead of focusing on a specific company announcing a large buyback, we decided to shift gears and write more broadly about buybacks. Companies have increased their allocation to share repurchases in recent years because it is a tax efficient way to return capital to shareholders and when done correctly, can significantly enhance shareholder returns.