In this new post: "Taking Stock: Share Buybacks and Shareholder Value" (full publication here), MSCI summarizes its study of the stock buyback activity of 610 company constituents of the MSCI USA Index as of December 31, 2016 for the most recent 15-year period (ending December 2016) for which sufficient buyback and other financial data was available, concluding that - contrary to concerns and assumptions expressed by a number of investor groups, policy makers, and regulators - there is "no compelling evidence of a negative impact from share buybacks on long-term value creation for investors overall."
Among other indicators, MSCI evaluated dividend and buyback activity, CapEx spending, and R&D spending relative to MSCI ESG ratings (ESG ratings being used as a proxy for how well companies are positioned to manage financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities), and dividend and buyback activity relative to shareholder value creation as measured by the average 10-year spread between ROIC (return on invested capital) and (COC) cost of capital. Across all dimensions analyzed, companies with the most buyback activity were positively associated with indicia of long-term shareholder value.