Banks Are Buying Back Stock Hand Over Fist, Including These 3 Names

Summary

While many investors have focused heavily on the artificial intelligence trade lately, the banking industry has quietly performed well too. One commonly used proxy of the industry’s performance is the Invesco KBW Bank ETF NASDAQ: KBWB. Over the last 12 months, the fund has delivered a total return of around 35%, exceeding the S&P 500’s approximately 27% return over that period. Notably, large-scale share buybacks have been a common theme among many bank stocks. After engaging in big-time buyback spending over the past several quarters, these three names are loading up again. All have huge buyback capacity equal to more than 10% of their market capitalizations. This allows these firms to continue lowering their outstanding share counts, adding a tailwind to per-share metrics.Get Citigroup alerts:Sign Up Citigroup’s Buyback Capacity Hits 14% Amid Turnaround SuccessFirst up is one of the most well-known banking institutions in the world, Citigroup NYSE: C. The stock has gone on an extremely strong run, delivering a total return above 70% over the last 12 months. This comes as Citi’s turnaround plan has been progressing well. In 2025, Citi saw record revenues across all of its five main business lines, and four out of five posted double-digit growth in Q1 2026. Overall, 2025 revenue hit a record $86.4 billion. Citigroup TodayCCitigroup$125.38 +0.29 (+0.23%) As of 03:22 PM Eastern52-Week Range$73.49▼$135.29Dividend Yield1.91%P/E Ratio15.54Price Target$137.62 Citi has also made judicious use of buybacks recently, spending $13 billion on repurchases in 2025—around four times what it spent in 2024. The company’s buyback pace continues to accelerate, with $6.3 billion of repurchases in Q1 2026, or nearly half of its 2025 spending in just one quarter. Now, the company has filled its buyback chest to the brim, authorizing a new $30 billion repurchase program. The firm noted, “This reflects both our earnings power and our confidence in the trajectory of our business." The size ...