Stockholder Distribution Decisions: Share Repurchases on Dividends?

Abstract

In recent years, corporations have repurchased increasing amounts of their own common shares. The dollar value of repurchases increased from approximately 1.7 billion in 1964. To put these figures in better perspective, corporate repurchases were more than 50 percent of the net purchases of pension funds and twice the net purchases of mutual funds. From the viewpoint of the individual company, General Motors is a. striking example. Repurchases by General Motors accounted for over 20 percent of the total trading volume in that stock in 1963.