Institutional Shareholder Services Inc or ISS has recommended a "no" vote to the share buyback proposed by activist investor Carl Icahn for Apple Inc, Reuters reported citing an ISS report it got yesterday. ISS is a proxy advisory firm that provides corporate governance solutions to the financial community worldwide. Information from its website showed that it has over 1,700 clients that rely on its expertise to aid them in making more informed investment decisions on behalf of the owners of companies.

According to the ISS report, "(The Apple board) has returned the bulk of its U.S.-generated cash to shareholders via aggressive stock buybacks and dividends payouts. In light of these good-faith efforts and its past stewardship, the board's latitude should not be constricted by a shareholder resolution that would micromanage the company's capital allocation process."

Icahn has asked Apple to give back more cash to its stakeholders. His proposal is for the iPhone maker to give back $50 billion more to shareholders via share buybacks. The stockholders will decide on Icahn's proposal when they meet on February 28. Another proxy advisory firm, Egan-Jones, has also told stakeholders earlier not to support Icahn's proposal, the report said.

A report in The Wall Street Journal about the matter also quoted the ISS report as saying, "Shareholders may wish to support the current proposal, at least in part, to signal to the board their sense of urgency about the lack of resolution on this issue of excess cash. At the same time, however, the board has taken clear and strong measures in the past two years-including establishing (and then increasing) a significant dividend, authorizing (and then increasing) a sizable share buyback, and creating a cadence of annual communication to investors about additional measures it will take."

However, ISS also reminded Apple that Icahn was the second attempt by an activist investor that urged the firm to give back more cash to its stakeholders, WSJ reported.