FINS1613 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Dividend Policy, Cash Flow, Capital Market
Document Summary
Payout policy is the way a firm chooses between the alternative ways to pay cash out to shareholders: If the firm chooses to pay out/distribute, it can do so by either paying dividends or repurchasing shares. If the firm chooses to retain the cash flow, it will invest in new projects now or add to cash reserves to fund future investments. The order is: deceleration date, ex-dividend date, record date, payable date. On the ex-dividend date, the share price will decline by the amount of the dividend. A company will announce it will conduct repurchases (however not obligated to do so). The repurchases then generally occur over a period of time (not affecting stock price). Dividends vs share repurchases in a perfect capital market. In a perfect capital market, when the dividend is paid, share price drops by that amount when the stock begins to trade ex-dividend. The price drops because it only reflects dividends in subsequent years.