There were buyers and sellers before and after the stock market volatility crash of 2018, with a particular rise in buybacks by a specific sector of stock that may benefit from current market conditions. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch Equity and Quant Strategy report looks at fund flows during the week and points to those who bought near the bottom. On this list are corporations as well as institutional clients, but hedge funds appeared to have been selling into the market rebound.

Who has been buying stocks in 2018? It turns out stock buybacks, where corporations purchase their shares, has been a favorite strategy, particularly after the market price re-adjustment in early February, you can thank them for saving the market.

Financial stocks continue to dominate buyback activity, making up nearly 42% of total corporate buybacks at a time when interest rates are increasing, and volatility is likewise on the rise. For the week of February 12, when the stock market started to recover, buying stocks from BAML’s corporate clients began to model above typical February levels and went past 2017 levels on a year over year basis.

A February 21 BAML Equity Client Flow Trends report noted client net buys based on sector. Financial stocks benefited, with 531 instances, while healthcare was in a distant second place with 196; Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology stocks were tightly grouped in with healthcare.

Some notable stocks to make buybacks included embattled bank stock of Wells Fargo, which purchased $22.6 billion of its stock on January 23. The timing for the investment was less than optimal at $64.68 as it just preceded a market sell-off that saw its shares drop to a $55.40 low on February 8, but has since recovered to $60.43.

Other companies engaging in significant buybacks was Cisco, which had a little better market timing than Wells Fargo, buying back $25 billion in stock on February 14 just after the market bottom. Other firms buying back after the market bottom included PepsiCo repurchasing $15 billion on February 13, Abbvie $10 billion on February 15, Applied Materials and Celgene $6 billion and $5 billion respectively on February 14.