factors that drive dividend and share repurchase policies. We find that managers are very reluctant to cut dividends, that … dividends are smoothed through time, and that dividend increases are tied to long-run sustainable earnings but much less so than … investment. Managers like to repurchase shares when they feel their stock is undervalued and in an effort to affect EPS. Dividend …

), announcements of new investments, share repurchases, and dividend announcements. We find that 4% of public firms in our sample …

This paper tests whether firms altered their dividend and share repurchase policies in response to the 2003 reductions … in shareholder tax rates. We predict that firms substituted dividends for repurchases, because the reduction in dividend … (particularly officers and managers) when setting dividend and share repurchase policies …

We outline a dividend signaling approach in which rational managers signal firm strength to investors who are loss … of the same level next period. The model is consistent with several features of the data, including equilibrium dividend … policies similar to a Lintner partial-adjustment model; modal dividend changes of zero; stronger market reactions to dividend …

choose repurchases over conventional dividend payments because repurchases, unlike dividends, do not dilute the per … stock-based compensation that, unlike stock options, is not diluted by dividend payments. These findings have implications …