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Good news and bad news about share repurchases

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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.

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  • 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
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    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.

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