The amount of shares repurchased by S&P 500 companies in the last three months of 2018 hit a record, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly all-time high and the longest such streak since S&P Dow Jones Indices began tracking repurchases two decades ago.

A preliminary reading of buybacks in the fourth quarter of 2018 shows that $222.98bn worth of shares were bought back over the three-month period, headlined by Apple ($10.11bn), Oracle (roughly $10bn) and Wells Fargo, the data show.