Exploring the Anatomy of Firm Payouts: Who Pays, How Much and When?

101 Pages Posted: 7 Oct 2014

See all articles by Pedro Angel Garcia-Ares

Pedro Angel Garcia-Ares

Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)

Date Written: September 25, 2014

Abstract

We investigate the anatomy of corporate payouts -- dividends and stock repurchases. Specifically, we use firm-level data to understand which firms drive the changing patterns of payouts over time and in the cross-section. Our work extends the current literature by studying firms payouts based on industry sectors, firm age and other attributes. We find that dividends are not only concentrated among a relatively small group of mature firms, but also among industry groups. In contrast, stock repurchases are undertaken by a more diverse group of firms. Moreover, we find that dividends and stock repurchases are concentrated in firms listed in certain specific years and that it is the youngest and the oldest firms who are the main responsible for the growth of dividends and repurchases after 2001. Finally, our evidence confirms that the biggest firms by market capitalization are not always those that pay the largest dividends and that the drivers of these differences are not the same over the whole sample period.

Keywords: Dividends, Repurchases, Payouts, Concentration

JEL Classification: G35

Suggested Citation

Garcia-Ares, Pedro Angel, Exploring the Anatomy of Firm Payouts: Who Pays, How Much and When? (September 25, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2506537 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2506537

Pedro Angel Garcia-Ares (Contact Author)

Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)

Av. Camino a Sta. Teresa 930
Col. Héroes de Padierna
Mexico City, D.F. 01000, Federal District 01080
Mexico

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