| dc.description.abstract | In the following review, the results from Fama and French (2001a) and Harry DeAngelo, Linda
DeAngelo, and Douglas J. Skinner (2004) are replicated while the analysis was extended to a
more recent period which included stock repurchases. I examined dividend concentration
among US industrial firms over the 1985-2011 period whilst comparing the absolute changes
from 2000 to 2011. I observed that the number of dividend payers increased by 16 firms from
2000 to 2011, whereas aggregate dividend substantially increased by 124% during the same
period of time. Furthermore, there was seemingly a stronger positive relation between level of
earnings and dividend payments in 2011 compared to that of 2000. In this recent survey, level
of earnings and share repurchases were seen as positively correlated during 1978 to 2011. My
observations suggest of higher concentration of cash payout via stock repurchases over 1985-
2011, which indicates that firms with higher level of earnings spend more on share repurchases.
Moreover, a very large proportion of share buy-back is completed by top dividend payers that
distribute substantial portion of dividends. Such phenomenon has remained unchanged in the
last decades. | nb_NO |
