Standard and Poor’s is reporting today that stock buybacks dropped in the fourth quarter of 2011, the first rollback in repurchase plans since the market’s crash in the second quarter of 2009.

Specifically, S&P Indices announced today that member stocks in its benchmark S&P 500 index saw their buybacks decreased 22.8% to $91.5 billion during the fourth quarter of 2011. That’s the first quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2009, when the stock markets bottomed after the financial crisis.

For calendar year 2011, however, S&P 500 companies increased stock repurchase plans by 36.9% to $409.0 billion above the $298.8 billion posted in 2010.

“Companies appear to have finally gotten it right,” said Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Indices, in a press release. “With average share prices declining 14.3% during the third quarter of 2011, companies poured $118 billion into stock buybacks (the most since the heydays of 2007), buying back shares at reduced prices. With depressed prices, companies were able to scoop up additional shares, which reduced the number needed for year-end employee options. In the fourth quarter, with share prices increasing an average of 11.2%, they pulled back.”

Health care and energy stocks were the lone sectors to increase their buyback activity during the fourth quarter, with a 7.5% and 2.9% respective increase according to S&P. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) was the leader, spending $5.4 billion on buybacks during the fourth quarter — though admittedly that stock repurchase plan was slightly down from its $5.5 billion for the third quarter. Trailing were Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) with $5.3 billion in stock buybacks, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) at $4.2 billion, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) with $3.6 billion, and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) with $3.2 billion.