AppleThe company briefly became first to go public on Monday as it capped off an impressive rise. touch a $3 trillion market valueJust short of the mark, the day ended.

Apple’s steady rise in share price is a testament to its capital return program. Apple’s capital return program has proven to be a powerful asset over the years. the biggest repurchaser of its own shares in the S&P 500 by far.

Apple spent $85.5B to purchase shares and $14.5B on dividends for its fiscal 2021, which ended in September. Apple is more likely to spend on buybacks that other companies that repurchase lots of their shares. Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), Alphabet, Bank of AmericaAnd Oracle.

Buybacks of stock increase a company’s stock price. They reduce the stock market supply and return the investors’ money through higher stock prices. A decrease in share count can also increase earnings per share. This is a common metric that value-based investors use to evaluate a stock.

Apple began to pay quarterly dividends in March 2012 and repurchase shares in March 2012. Apple bought back more than $467 billion since then, and this includes last summer. to S&P Global Market IntelligenceAccording to, the iPhone maker is the “poster child for share buybacks.”

Apple stock actually has increased 252% in the past year, when its value reached $1 trillion. That compares with a 200% market cap growth. The company’s buyback program has resulted in a decrease of 19.4 million shares to approximately 16.4 millions now.

Apple is becoming a popular investment choice for investors.flight to safetyThe combination of large cash flows and the willingness to repay investors makes it a quality trade.

Wamsi Mohan, an analyst at Bank of America Securities wrote that shares have rallied in recent months because of investor expectations of steady demand as well as continued strong cash flows. This could also reflect the stock’s performance in line with the market.

Apple’s impressive cash flow is one of the reasons investors believe Apple can keep spending large amounts on share buybacks, while also growing its staff and investing in R&D and research and development. Apple’s fiscal 2021 cash flow was an impressive $104 billion, which is an industry record. To give you an example, consider other tech giants MicrosoftAnd AlphabetDuring their last fiscal years, they had cash flows of $77 billion to $65 billion.

Apple’s ability generate cash flow free of charge could allow it to maintain its capital return program, even if it is “net cash neutral,” as Apple CEO Tim Cook stated. total cash will equal its total debt.

Apple announced in December 2017 that, along with a new tax law allowing it to transfer most of its cash from abroad, it would no longer keep its large cash pile. Instead it will return it over time to investors.

Apple’s purchaseback rate accelerated immediately, going from $33 Billion in fiscal 2017, to $73 Billion in fiscal 2018. According to CFO Luca Maestri, Apple had $66 billion of net cash as of October. That’s downStarting at $163 billion net cash, the date of announcement.

In November, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi predicted that Apple would be able to continue repurchasing between 3% and 4% of outstanding shares through 2026 without taking on net debt — Apple has borrowed in recent years to fuel its capital return program but its spending has been offset by its cash pile.

Apple usually updates its investors about its shareholder return plans and its second-quarter financial results in April. Citi analysts predict that Apple will announce additional $90 billion of buybacks, and raise its dividend 10%.