How are corporate stock buy backs identified?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Frank Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/121940 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. I believe that stimulus will be introduced in the US with clauses that prevent stock buybacks. I want to speculate that if the stimulus gains traction, then genuinely undervalued stocks will be worth aggressively buying at the bottom. However many corporations openly admit and celebrate that over the last decade they have gorged on cheap stimulus money from the last crisis by issuing bonds and purchasing their own stock. Many, if not all of those, will demonstrate that their growth was illusory, not organic fundamental growth, but merely a credit fueled bubble. For example, I saw a report that over a five year period post crisis, Pfizer spent the equivalent of 70% of its profits on buy backs, dividends and exec bonuses. In this case, if true, primary research into new molecules was stifled as a result and so their fundamentals are in my opinion not as good as what they should be. Here, amidst the covid19 paralysis, we see Hilton Hotels spending 2 billion not on staff support, but on their own share price: I found this site for example, but is it comprehensive? How are stock buyback announcements made and are these announcements voluntary? If they are mandatory, are those mandates somehow circumvented? How can I determine which stocks have been up till now artificially inflated with buy backs in the US. EDIT: I am beginning to understand that the question I really want to ask is: How can I determine if stock buybacks have been carried out. How can I determine if the firm has been using buybacks to prop up share price at the expense of intrinsic value.

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Matt G Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/121968 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. I believe that a precursor to corporate stock buybacks are insider transactions, at least sometimes. I've not yet identified a good way to identify stock buybacks, but I've been on board when it happened simply by investing based on certain insider transactions.

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: The Photon Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/121991 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. How are stock buyback announcements made and are these announcements voluntary? Under SEC rule 10b-18 , companies are required to disclose their stock buyback programs in their quarterly and annual reports. Normally they also announce them in a quarterly announcement or other public forum, as they're generally perceived as positive development for the company's shraeholders. If they are mandatory, are those mandates somehow circumvented? Generally, companies don't want to hide the fact they're buying back stock, since it tends to increase the value of the stock. If they did deliberately omit this information from a quarterly or annual report, it would be a very serious failure of corporate governance and lead to serious consequences for the company. How can I determine which stocks have been up till now artificially inflated with buy backs in the US. It's unclear why you think the increased value of your shares of a stock due to the company's buyback program is "artificial". If you own (for example) 1% of the outstanding shares of a company, and through a buyback program, they remove 10% of the shares from the market, you now own 1.111% of the company rather than 1%. If the inherent value (whatever that is) of the company hasn't changed, your assets are now actually more valuable and there's nothing artificial about it. However, if you truly don't wish to invest in companies that have stock buyback programs, you can read their annual reports and not invest in those companies.