Source: The Associated Press

S&P 500 companies more than doubled their stock repurchases in the third quarter.

While many U.S.-traded businesses held off on buybacks during the recession, repurchases appear to be on the rise again now that signs are emerging that economic conditions are improving.

Standard & Poor’s said Monday that buybacks surged to US$79.56 billion in the third quarter from $34.85 billion a year earlier, making it the fifth straight quarter of increased repurchases.

Information technology companies, including Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp., made up 28.6% of all buybacks, while health care companies repurchased less stock than in the prior-year period.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. also made large buybacks in the quarter.

Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P indexes predicts a slight rise in fourth-quarter buybacks.

Stock buybacks lower a company’s shares outstanding, raising earnings per share and expanding the percentage size of shareholders’ stakes.