Nvidia just made one of the biggest shareholder return moves in tech history. The AI chipmaker announced an additional $80 billion stock buyback program — with no expiration date — alongside a 25-fold dividend hike, raising its quarterly payout from $0.01 to $0.25 per share.
The new dividend will be paid on June 26, 2026, to shareholders of record as of June 4.
The announcement came alongside Q1 fiscal 2027 results. Revenue came in at $81.6 billion, up 85% year-over-year. Data center revenue jumped 92% to a record $75.2 billion.
During Q1 alone, Nvidia returned roughly $20 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. It still had $38.5 billion remaining under its prior buyback plan before adding the new $80 billion on top.
To put that in context: the new program is larger than the total market cap of several S&P 500 companies.
Despite all of that, NVDA stock was down around 1% on the day. Investors appear focused on questions about peak growth rates rather than celebrating the capital return news.
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis drew a direct line between Nvidia’s current situation and Apple’s playbook. After years of P/E compression, Apple’s multiple started expanding once it ramped up buybacks and dividends. Lipacis expects the same to happen with Nvidia.
He also noted that Nvidia could become even more generous with returns in 2027.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya added more context. Only 47% of Nvidia’s free cash flow from 2022 through 2025 went to dividends and buybacks. Peers typically return around 80%.
Nvidia has been plowing cash into the AI ecosystem instead — investing in companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Arya said that has been “unfairly” characterized as risky circular financing.
“Boosting shareholder returns could expand ownership, close Nvidia’s valuation gap and minimize circularity concerns,” Arya wrote.
CEO Jensen Huang called the AI factory buildout the “largest infrastructure expansion in human history.” That framing hasn’t changed.
What has changed is how Nvidia is managing its cash. For years, it was a pure growth story. Now it’s generating enough to invest in AI and return billions to shareholders at the same time.
Nvidia said it plans to return 50% of its free cash flow to investors in calendar year 2026.
Wall Street remains firmly behind the stock. Based on the past three months, analysts have assigned 40 Buy ratings, one Hold, and one Sell. The average 12-month price target sits at $283.26, implying about 26.75% upside from current levels.
The $80 billion buyback is one of the largest repurchase programs in the tech sector. Buybacks reduce shares outstanding, which tends to support earnings per share over time.
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