A Decade of Rewards: $47 Bil From Eli Lilly Stock
In the last decade, Eli Lilly (LLY) stock has returned $47 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, LLY stock has returned the 59th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| LLY | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $29 Bil | $4.5 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $18 Bil | $5.7 Bil |
| Total Returned | $47 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 5.2% | 25.5% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $847 Bil | 20.4% | $141 Bil | $706 Bil |
| MSFT | $368 Bil | 10.3% | $169 Bil | $200 Bil |
| GOOGL | $357 Bil | 9.5% | $15 Bil | $342 Bil |
| XOM | $212 Bil | 41.0% | $145 Bil | $67 Bil |
| WFC | $212 Bil | 71.8% | $58 Bil | $153 Bil |
| META | $183 Bil | 11.1% | $9.1 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JPM | $181 Bil | 20.7% | $0.0 | $181 Bil |
| ORCL | $161 Bil | 28.6% | $34 Bil | $126 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 53.6% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
| JNJ | $157 Bil | 31.0% | $104 Bil | $52 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for LLY. (see Buy or Sell Eli Lilly Stock for more details)
Eli Lilly Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 36.8% LTM and 23.4% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly -0.09% free cash flow margin and 43.0% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for LLY was 1.5%.
- Valuation: Eli Lilly stock trades at a P/E multiple of 49.6
| LLY | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Health Care | – |
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals | – |
| PE Ratio | 49.6 | 23.5 |
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| LTM* Revenue Growth | 36.8% | 6.0% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 23.4% | 5.4% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 1.5% | 0.2% |
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| LTM* Operating Margin | 43.0% | 18.8% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 35.6% | 18.3% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | -0.1% | 13.4% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from LLY stock, but what about the risk?
LLY Historical Risk
LLY isn’t immune to big selloffs. It plunged over 43% in the Dot-Com Bubble and took an even bigger hit—more than 50%—during the Global Financial Crisis. The smaller dips still hurt, with losses close to 18% in 2018 and just under 19% in the recent inflation shock. The Covid drop wasn’t small either, around 22%. Solid fundamentals matter, but these numbers show even strong stocks can face sizable declines when the market turns.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.