When Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway spends billions of dollars on an investment, it usually makes headlines.
But there wasn’t too much hype surrounding Berkshire’s $7.6 billion purchase in Q3 — and for a good reason: The company was buying back its own shares.
Buybacks are a common way for companies to return capital to shareholders.
By repurchasing its shares, Berkshire reduced the number of shares outstanding, giving each remaining shareholder a larger stake of the company.
It’s not the first time that Buffett has bought back stock this year. Berkshire repurchased $6.6 billion of its shares in Q1, followed by another $6 billion worth of buybacks in Q2.
But Berkshire isn’t alone. Here’s a look at three other companies that are returning billions of dollars of cash to investors through buybacks — one of them might be worth buying with some of your leftover pennies.
Meta Platforms (FB)
Facebook rebranded to Meta on Oct. 28 to reflect its vision “to help bring the metaverse to life.” The company has many endeavors beyond social media, including virtual and augmented reality headsets and smart glasses.
That said, Facebook remains the largest business at Meta. The app’s monthly active users grew 6% year-over-year to 2.91 billion as of Sept. 30. Factoring in Meta’s other platforms — namely Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp — the number of active users on at least one product totaled 3.58 billion.
Meta’s financials have grown faster than its user base. In Q3, revenue increased 35% from a year age to $29 billion, while diluted earnings per share rose 19% to $3.22.
The company has returned a lot of cash to investors — and will continue to do so. Meta bought back $14.4 billion of its own stock in Q3 and increased its share repurchase authorization by $50 billion.
After a 23% climb this year, FB shares trade at a pricey $331 apiece. If that’s too steep, you can use a popular investing app to buy fractions of shares with as much money as you are willing to spend.
Bank of America (BAC)
While many businesses fear rising interest rates, banks love them. So it’s no surprise that in today’s environment, well-capitalized banks aren’t exactly shy about returning cash to shareholders.
Just take a look at financial giant Bank of America, which bought back a whopping $9.9 billion of its common stock in Q3.
The buyback was part of the bank’s $25 billion share repurchase program announced in April. Last month, the board renewed the $25 billion buyback plan, replacing the previous program.
Bank of America also returns cash to investors through quarterly dividend payments. In June, the company raised its quarterly payout by 17% to 21 cents per share.
At the current share price, the bank yields 1.8%.
Apple (AAPL)
Read More: Warren Buffett just poured another $7.6B into his all-time favorite