We survey the literature on payout policy, with a particular emphasis on developments in the past two decades. The cross-sectional empirical evidence for the traditional motivations behind firms paying out (agency, signaling, and taxes) is most persuasive with regard to agency considerations....

Contrary to the central prediction of signaling models, changes in profits do not empirically follow changes in dividends. We show both theoretically and empirically that dividends signal safer, rather than higher, future profits. Using the Campbell (1991) decomposition, we are able to estimate...

We examine the nature of information contained in insider trades prior to corporate events. Insiders' net buying increases before open market share repurchase announcements and decreases before seasoned equity offers. Higher insider net buying is associated with better post-event operating...

Contrary to the central prediction of signaling models, changes in profits do not empirically follow changes in dividends. We show both theoretically and empirically that dividends signal safer, rather than higher, future profits. Using the Campbell (1991) decomposition, we are able to estimate...

Over 40% of firms that make payouts also raise capital during the same year, resulting in 31% of aggregate share repurchases and dividends being externally financed, primarily with debt. Most externally financed payouts are the result of firms persistently setting payouts above free cash flow....

We survey the literature on payout policy, with a particular emphasis on developments in the last two decades. Of the traditional motives of why firms pay out (agency, signaling, and taxes), the cross-sectional empirical evidence is most persuasive in favor of agency considerations. Studies...

Using two exogenous shocks, we examine the causal impact of stock liquidity on firms’ dividend policy. Both the first shock, the reduction of the minimum tick size from one sixteenth to decimals in the US, and the second shock, the mandatory conversion of non traded stocks to traded stocks in...

There is strong evidence in the literature that dividends and repurchases have been substitutes for each other throughout the 80's and 90's. Asset pricing models that try to relate cash flow distributions to asset prices need to take this into account. We find that while the dividend price ratio...

By the end of January 2001, all NYSE stocks had converted their price quotations from 1/8ths and 1/16ths to decimals. This study examines the effect of this change in price quotations on ex-dividend day activity. We find that abnormal ex-dividend day returns increase in the 1/16th and decimal...

In early 2002, we surveyed 384 financial executives, to determine the factors that drive dividend and share repurchase decisions. Our survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with an additional 23 executives. The survey consisted of 11 main questions, most with subparts - over 100...