IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgfe/1998-04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Good news and bad news about share repurchases

Author

Listed:

Abstract

We estimate the cross-sectional relationship between open market repurchases and accounting data for a large sample of dividend- paying and non-dividend paying firms over a twelve year period (1984-95). Consistent with the hypothesis that firms use open market repurchases to reduce the agency costs of free cash flow, we find that repurchases are positively related to proxies for free cash flow and negatively related to proxies for marginal financing costs. We also examine the extent to which management stock options influence the choice between open market repurchases and dividend payments. Because the value of management stock options--like any call option--is negatively related to expected future dividend payments, management can increase the value of its stock options by substituting share repurchases for dividend growth. We find evidence that such substitution occurs: for dividend-paying firms, share repurchases are positively related and dividend increases are negatively related to a proxy for management stock options, whereas for non-dividend-paying firms, the relationship between repurchases and options is weak and statistically insignificant.

Suggested Citation

  • George W. Fenn & J. Nellie Liang, 1997. "Good news and bad news about share repurchases," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1998-04, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:1998-04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/1998/199804/199804abs.html
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/1998/199804/199804pap.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Watts, Ross L., 1992. "The investment opportunity set and corporate financing, dividend, and compensation policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-292, December.
    2. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:313-333 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Dann, Larry Y., 1981. "Common stock repurchases : An analysis of returns to bondholders and stockholders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 113-138, June.
    4. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    5. Laurie Simon Bagwell & John B. Shoven, 1988. "Share Repurchases and Acquisitions: An Analysis of Which Firms Participate," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences, pages 191-220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Lambert, Richard A. & Lanen, William N. & Larcker, David F., 1989. "Executive Stock Option Plans and Corporate Dividend Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(4), pages 409-425, December.
    7. Kaplan, Steven, 1989. "The effects of management buyouts on operating performance and value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 217-254.
    8. Vermaelen, Theo, 1984. "Repurchase Tender Offers, Signaling, and Managerial Incentives," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 163-181, June.
    9. Michael J. Barclay & Clifford W. Smith & Ross L. Watts, 1995. "The Determinants Of Corporate Leverage And Dividend Policies," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 7(4), pages 4-19, January.
    10. Ikenberry, David & Lakonishok, Josef & Vermaelen, Theo, 1995. "Market underreaction to open market share repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 181-208.
    11. Kenneth Lehn & Annette Poulsen, 1989. "Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 771-787, July.
    12. Yermack, David, 1997. "Good Timing: CEO Stock Option Awards and Company News Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 449-476, June.
    13. Ofer, Aharon R & Thakor, Anjan V, 1987. "A Theory of Stock Price Responses to Alternative Corporate Cash Disbursement Methods: Stock Repurchases and Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 365-394, June.
    14. Comment, Robert & Jarrell, Gregg A, 1991. "The Relative Signalling Power of Dutch-Auction and Fixed-Price Self-Tender Offers and Open-Market Share Repurchases," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1243-1271, September.
    15. Chowdhry, Bhagwan & Nanda, Vikram, 1994. "Repurchase Premia as a Reason for Dividends: A Dynamic Model of Corporate Payout Policies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(2), pages 321-350.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:3:p:771-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Warner, Jerold B., 1979. "On financial contracting : An analysis of bond covenants," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 117-161, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dinis Santos & Paulo Gama, 2017. "Can firms time the market? Evidence using own stock transactions," Proceedings of Business and Management Conferences 5608038, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    2. Stehle, Richard & Seifert, Udo, 2003. "Stock Performance around Share Repurchase Announcements in Germany," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2003,48, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    3. Gunnar Bårdsen & Jurgen Doornik & Jan Tore Klovland, 2004. "A European-type wage equation from an American-style labor market: Evidence from a panel of Norwegian manufacturing industries in the 1930s," Working Paper 2004/8, Norges Bank.
    4. Vogt, Jan, 2023. "Managerial market timing under credit risk: How do timed buybacks and stock issuances influence the value of long-term shareholders?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Sharad C. Asthana, 2010. "Real Earnings Management through Share Repurchases," Working Papers 0105, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    6. Ni, Xiaoran & Song, Wei & Yao, Jiaquan, 2020. "Stakeholder orientation and corporate payout policy: Insights from state legal shocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Christine Jolls, 1998. "Stock Repurchases and Incentive Compensation," NBER Working Papers 6467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jagannathan, Murali & Stephens, Clifford P. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2000. "Financial flexibility and the choice between dividends and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 355-384, September.
    9. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Cooper, Ilan & de Olalla Lopez, Ignacio Garcia & Louca, Christodoulos, 2018. "Managerial overconfidence and the buyback anomaly," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 142-156.
    10. Ge Zhang, 2006. "Market Valuation and Employee Stock Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(9), pages 1377-1393, September.
    11. Shao-Chi Chang & Jung-Ho Lai & Chen-Hsiang Yu, 2005. "The Intra-Industry Effect of Share Repurchase Deregulation: Evidence from Taiwan," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(02), pages 251-277.
    12. Johannes A. Skjeltorp & Bernt Arne Ødegaard, 2004. "The ownership structure of repurchasing firms," Working Paper 2004/7, Norges Bank.
    13. Tzu-Yu Liu & Li-Lun Liu & John Francis Diaz, 2016. "Effect of Managerial Overconfidence and Compensation on Share Repurchase: Empirical Evidence from Taiwanese Firms," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 12(1), pages 153-179.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James C. Brau & Andrew Holmes, 2001. "Using REITs to Extricate the Effect of Managerial Signalling in Open Market Share Repurchase Announcements," ERES eres2001_123, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    2. Fenn, George W. & Liang, Nellie, 2001. "Corporate payout policy and managerial stock incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 45-72, April.
    3. Golbe, Devra L. & Nyman, Ingmar, 2013. "How do share repurchases affect ownership concentration?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 22-40.
    4. Gerald J. Lobo & Ashok Robin & Kean Wu, 2020. "Share repurchases and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 699-733, February.
    5. George W. Fenn & J. Nellie Liang, 1999. "Corporate payout policy and managerial stock incentives," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-23, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Johannes A. Skjeltorp & Bernt Arne Ødegaard, 2004. "The ownership structure of repurchasing firms," Working Paper 2004/7, Norges Bank.
    7. Boudry, Walter I. & Kallberg, Jarl G. & Liu, Crocker H., 2013. "Investment opportunities and share repurchases," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 23-38.
    8. de Jong, A. & van Dijk, R. & Veld, C.H., 2000. "The Dividend and Share Repurchase Policies of Canadian Firms : Empirical Evidence based on New Research Design," Other publications TiSEM 46dc60fc-de95-4aaa-9e3c-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. de Jong, A. & van Dijk, R. & Veld, C.H., 2001. "The Dividend and Share Repurchase Policies of Canadian Firms," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2001-88-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    10. James C. Brau & Andrew Holmes, 2006. "Why Do REITs Repurchase Stock? Extricating the Effect of Managerial Signaling in Open Market Share Repurchase Announcements," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 28(1), pages 1-24.
    11. Hirtle, Beverly, 2004. "Stock repurchases and bank holding company performance," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 28-57, January.
    12. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2005. "Patterns in Payout Policy and Payout Channel Choice of UK Firms in the 1990s," Discussion Paper 2005-002, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    13. Chen, Ni-Yun & Chen, Kun-Chih & Liu, Chi-Chun, 2019. "Debt-financed repurchases and credit ratings with the respect of free cash flow and repurchase purpose," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 23-36.
    14. Tzu-Yu Liu & Li-Lun Liu & John Francis Diaz, 2016. "Effect of Managerial Overconfidence and Compensation on Share Repurchase: Empirical Evidence from Taiwanese Firms," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 12(1), pages 153-179.
    15. Ming‐Cheng Wu & Erin H. C. Kao & Hung‐Gay Fung, 2008. "Impact Of Dividend‐Protected Employee Stock Options On Payout Policies: Evidence From Taiwan," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 431-452, October.
    16. Wesson, N. & Smit, E.v.d.M. & Kidd, M. & Hamman, W.D., 2018. "Determinants of the choice between share repurchases and dividend payments," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 180-196.
    17. Gunnar Bårdsen & Jurgen Doornik & Jan Tore Klovland, 2004. "A European-type wage equation from an American-style labor market: Evidence from a panel of Norwegian manufacturing industries in the 1930s," Working Paper 2004/4, Norges Bank.
    18. Perfect, Steven B. & Peterson, David R. & Peterson, Pamela P., 1995. "Self-tender offers: The effects of free cash flow, cash flow signalling, and the measurement of Tobin's q," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1005-1023, September.
    19. Scott Weisbenner, 2000. "Corporate share repurchases in the 1990s: what role do stock options play?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-29, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Manoj Subhash Kamat & Manasvi M. Kamat, 2016. "On Choosing an Optimal Dividend Policy in India: A Test of Substitution Hypothesis, 1999–2016," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 2(2), pages 199-222, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Stocks; Stock - Prices;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:1998-04. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.