On the surface one may assume that a company that announces a share repurchase is doing so because they feel that their stock is undervalued. Sometimes this is the case, and sometimes its a way for insiders to fill their wallets.

According to TrimTabs," 1,012 U.S. public companies announced $456 billion in stock buybacks this year, breaking the previous record set in 2004 when 728 companies said they would repurchase $312 billion worth of their own stock".

If corporations are buying back shares, and insiders are too, this is a bullish sign. However, often companies will announce buybacks, but will not tell investors that the purpose was to offset employee stock-option exercises.