What is meant by the term distribution policy? How have dividend payouts versus stock repurchases changed over time

PORTFOLIO ASSIGNMENT OPTION #1

IW Technologies (IWT) is a 6-year old company founded by Harold Jacksen and Donald Smith to exploit metamaterial plasmonic technology to develop and manufacture miniature microwave frequency directional transmitters and receivers for use in mobile Internet and communications applications. The technology, although highly-advanced, is relatively inexpensive to implement and their patented manufacturing techniques require little capital in comparison to many electronics fabrication ventures. Because of the low capital requirement, J&S have been able to avoid issuing new stock and thus own all of the shares. Because of the explosion in demand for its mobile Internet applications, IWT must now access outside equity capital to fund its growth and J&S have decided to take the company public. Until now, J&S have paid themselves reasonable salaries but routinely reinvested all after-tax earnings in the firm, so dividend policy has not been an issue. However, before talking with potential outside investors, they must decide on a dividend policy.

Your new boss at the consulting firm FLT and Associates, which has been retained to help IWT prepare for its public offering, has asked you to make a presentation to Jackson and Smithfield in which you review the theory of dividend policy and discuss the following issues.

Due in Module 5

What is meant by the term “distribution policy”? How have dividend payouts versus stock repurchases changed over time?

The terms “irrelevance,” “dividend preference, or bird-in-the-hand,” and “tax effect” have been used to describe three major theories regarding the way dividend payouts affect a firm’s value. Explain what these terms mean, and briefly describe each theory.

Submit the spreadsheet by Sunday of Week 5 so the instructor can review your work and provide suggestions for improvement. No points will be assigned for this, but points will be deducted from your final grade on the Portfolio Project if you fail to submit this assignment by the end of Week 5. Additionally, work received later than Week 6 of the course will not receive feedback prior to the final grading of the Portfolio Project.

Due in Module 6

What do the three theories indicate regarding the actions management should take with respect to dividend payouts?

What results have empirical studies of the dividend theories produced? How does all this affect what we can tell managers about dividend payouts?

Complete Requirement 2 and submit your work by Sunday of this week so your professor can review and provide suggestions for improvement. No points will be assigned for this, but points will be deducted from your final grade on the Portfolio Project if you fail to submit this assignment by the end of Week 6. Additionally, work received later than Week 7 of the course will not receive feedback prior to the final grading of the Portfolio Project.

Discuss (1) the clientele effect, (2) the information content, or signaling, hypothesis, and (3) their effects on dividend policy.

Assume that IWT has a $112.5 million capital budget planned for the coming year. You have determined its present capital structure (80% equity and 20% debt) is optimal, and its net income is forecasted at $140 million. Use the residual distribution model approach to determine IWT’s total dollar distribution. Assume for now that the distribution is in the form of a dividend. IWT has 100 million shares. What is the forecasted dividend payout ratio? What is the forecasted dividend per share?

What would happen to the payout ratio and DPS if net income were forecasted to decrease to $90 million?

What would happen to the payout ratio and DPS if net income were forecasted to increase to $160 million?

In general terms, how would a change in investment opportunities affect the payout ratio under the residual payment policy?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the residual policy? (Hint: Don’t neglect signaling and clientele effects.

Describe the procedures a company follows when it makes a distribution through dividend payments.

What is a stock repurchase? Describe the procedures a company follows when it makes a distribution through a stock repurchase.

What are stock repurchases? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a firm’s repurchasing its own shares.

Suppose IWT has decided to distribute $50 million, which it presently is holding in very liquid short-term investments. IWT’s value of operations is estimated to be about $1,937.5 million. IWT has $387.5 million in debt (it has no preferred stock). As mentioned previously, IWT has 100 million shares of stock outstanding.

Assume that IWT has not yet made the distribution. What is IWT’s intrinsic value of equity? What is its intrinsic per share stock price?

Now suppose that IWT has just made the $50 million distribution in the form of dividends. What is IWT’s intrinsic value of equity? What is its intrinsic per share stock price?

Suppose instead that IWT has just made the $50 million distribution in the form of a stock repurchase. Now what is IWT’s intrinsic value of equity? How many shares did IWT repurchase? How many shares remained outstanding after the repurchase? What is its intrinsic per share stock price after the repurchase?

Your paper must meet the following requirements:

Be approximately 5 pages in length, not including the cover page and reference page.

Be sure to follow the APA Each paper should include an introduction, a body with at least two fully developed paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Your paper must be clearly and well written using excellent grammar and style techniques. If you need assistance with your writing style, start with Tools for Effective Writing

Refer to the Portfolio Project grading rubric available in the Module 8 Folder for information on grading details.

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