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Dividends and Other Payouts

Chapter 16

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Key Concepts and Skills Understand dividend types and how they are

paid Understand the issues surrounding dividend

policy decisions Understand why share repurchases are an

alternative to dividends Understand the difference between cash and

stock dividends

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Chapter Outline16.1 Different Types of Dividends16.2 Standard Method of Cash Dividend Payment16.3 The Benchmark Case: An Illustration of the Irrelevance of

Dividend Policy16.4 Repurchase of Stock16.5 Personal Taxes, Issuance Costs, and Dividends16.6 Real World Factors Favoring a High Dividend Policy16.7 The Clientele Effect: A Resolution of Real-World Factors?16.8 What We Know and Do Not Know About Dividend

Policy16.9 Stock Dividends and Stock Splits

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16.1 Different Types of Dividends Many companies pay a regular cash dividend.

Public companies often pay quarterly. Sometimes firms will pay an extra cash dividend. The extreme case would be a liquidating dividend.

Companies will often declare stock dividends. No cash leaves the firm. The firm increases the number of shares outstanding.

Some companies declare a dividend in kind. Wrigley’s Gum sends a box of chewing gum. Dundee Crematoria offers shareholders discounted cremations.

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16.2 Standard Method of Cash Dividend

Record Date – Date on which company determines existing shareholders.

Ex-Dividend Date - Date that determines whether a stockholder is entitled to a dividend payment; anyone holding stock immediately before this date is entitled to a dividend.

Cash Dividend - Payment of cash by the firm to its shareholders.

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Procedure for Cash Dividend25 Oct. 1 Nov. 2 Nov. 5 Nov. 7 Dec.

Declaration Date

Cum-dividend

Date

Ex-dividend

Date

Record Date

Payment Date

…

Declaration Date: The Board of Directors declares a payment of dividends.Cum-Dividend Date: Buyer of stock still receives the dividend.

Ex-Dividend Date: Seller of the stock retains the dividend.

Record Date: The corporation prepares a list of all individuals believed to be stockholders as of 5 November.

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Price Behavior In a perfect world, the stock price will fall by the amount

of the dividend on the ex-dividend date.

$P

$P - div

Ex-dividend

Date

The price drops by the amount of the cash dividend.

-t … -2 -1 0 +1 +2 …

Taxes complicate things a bit. Empirically, the price drop is less than the dividend and occurs within the first few minutes of the ex-date.

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16.3 The Irrelevance of Dividend Policy A compelling case can be made that dividend

policy is irrelevant. Since investors do not need dividends to convert

shares to cash; they will not pay higher prices for firms with higher dividends.

In other words, dividend policy will have no impact on the value of the firm because investors can create whatever income stream they prefer by using homemade dividends.

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Homemade Dividends Bianchi Inc. is a $42 stock about to pay a $2 cash dividend. Bob Investor owns 80 shares and prefers a $3 dividend. Bob’s homemade dividend strategy:

Sell 2 shares ex-dividend

homemade dividendsCash from dividend $160Cash from selling stock $80Total Cash $240Value of Stock Holdings $40 × 78 =

$3,120

$3 Dividend$240

$0$240

$39 × 80 =$3,120

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Dividend Policy is Irrelevant In the above example, Bob Investor began with a

total wealth of $3,360:

share

42$shares 80360,3$

240$share

39$shares 80360,3$

80$160$share

40$shares 78360,3$

After a $3 dividend, his total wealth is still $3,360:

After a $2 dividend and sale of 2 ex-dividend shares, his total wealth is still $3,360:

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Dividends and Investment Policy Firms should never forgo positive NPV

projects to increase a dividend (or to pay a dividend for the first time).

Recall that one of the assumptions underlying the dividend-irrelevance argument is: “The investment policy of the firm is set ahead of time and is not altered by changes in dividend policy.”

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16.4 Repurchase of Stock Instead of declaring cash dividends, firms can

rid themselves of excess cash through buying shares of their own stock.

Recently, share repurchase has become an important way of distributing earnings to shareholders.

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Stock Repurchase versus Dividend

$10=/100,000$1,000,000=Price per share100,000=outstanding Shares

1,000,000Value of Firm1,000,000Value of Firm1,000,000Equity850,000 AssetsOther

0Debt$150,000Cash

sheet balance Original A.Equity &Liabilities Assets

Consider a firm that wishes to distribute $100,000 to its shareholders.

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Stock Repurchase versus Dividend

$9=00,000$900,000/1 = shareper Price

100,000=goutstandin Shares

900,000Firm of Value900,000Firm of Value

900,000Equity850,000AssetsOther

0Debt$50,000Cash

dividendcash shareper $1After B.

Equity & sLiabilitie Assets

If they distribute the $100,000 as a cash dividend, the balance sheet will look like this:

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Stock Repurchase versus Dividend

Assets Liabilities & Equity

C. After stock repurchase

Cash $50,000 Debt 0

Other Assets 850,000 Equity 900,000

Value of Firm 900,000 Value of Firm 900,000

Shares outstanding= 90,000

Price per share = $900,000 / 90,000 = $10

If they distribute the $100,000 through a stock repurchase, the balance sheet will look like this:

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Share Repurchase Flexibility for shareholders Keeps stock price higher

Good for insiders who hold stock options As an investment of the firm Tax benefits

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16.5 Personal Taxes, Issuance Costs, and Dividends To get the result that dividend policy is irrelevant,

we needed three assumptions: No taxes No transactions costs No uncertainty

In the United States, both cash dividends and capital gains are taxed at a maximum rate of 15 percent.

Since capital gains can be deferred, the tax rate on dividends is greater than the effective rate on capital gains.

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Firms without Sufficient Cash

In a world of personal taxes, firms should not issue stock to pay a dividend.

FirmStock

Holders

Cash: stock issue

Cash: dividends

Gov.

Taxes

Investment Bankers The direct costs of stock issuance will add to this effect.

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Firms with Sufficient Cash The above argument does not necessarily apply

to firms with excess cash. Consider a firm that has $1 million in cash after

selecting all available positive NPV projects. Select additional capital budgeting projects (by

assumption, these are negative NPV). Acquire other companies Purchase financial assets Repurchase shares

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Taxes, Issuance Costs, and Dividends In the presence of personal taxes:

1. A firm should not issue stock to pay a dividend.

2. Managers have an incentive to seek alternative uses for funds to reduce dividends.

3. Though personal taxes mitigate against the payment of dividends, these taxes are not sufficient to lead firms to eliminate all dividends.

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16.6 Real-World Factors Favoring High Dividends Desire for Current Income Behavioral Finance

It forces investors to be disciplined. Tax Arbitrage

Investors can create positions in high dividend yield securities that avoid tax liabilities.

Agency Costs High dividends reduce free cash flow.

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16.7 The Clientele Effect Clienteles for various dividend payout policies

are likely to form in the following way:Group Stock Type

High Tax Bracket Individuals

Low Tax Bracket Individuals

Tax-Free Institutions

Corporations

Zero-to-Low payout

Low-to-Medium payout

Medium payout

High payout

Once the clienteles have been satisfied, a corporation is unlikely to create value by changing its dividend policy.

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16.8 What We Know and Do Not Know Corporations “smooth” dividends. Dividends provide information to the market. Firms should follow a sensible dividend policy:

Don’t forgo positive NPV projects just to pay a dividend.

Avoid issuing stock to pay dividends. Consider share repurchase when there are few better

uses for the cash.

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16.9 Stock Dividends Pay additional shares of stock instead of cash Increases the number of outstanding shares Small stock dividend

Less than 20 to 25% If you own 100 shares and the company declared a

10% stock dividend, you would receive an additional 10 shares.

Large stock dividend – more than 20 to 25%

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Stock Splits Stock splits – essentially the same as a stock

dividend except it is expressed as a ratio For example, a 2 for 1 stock split is the same as a

100% stock dividend. Stock price is reduced when the stock splits. Common explanation for split is to return price

to a “more desirable trading range.”

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Quick Quiz What are the different types of dividends, and how

is a dividend paid? What is the clientele effect, and how does it affect

dividend policy irrelevance? What is the information content of dividend

changes? What are stock dividends, and how do they differ

from cash dividends? How are share repurchases an alternative to

dividends, and why might investors prefer them?