Special dividends and the evolution of dividend signaling

Abstract

This paper documents that (1) special dividends were once commonly paid by NYSE firms, but are now rarely paid; (2) firms typically paid specials almost as predictably as they paid regular dividends; (3) despite the dramatic overall decline in specials, the incidence of very large specials increased in recent years; and (4) special dividends were not displaced by stock repurchases. Most plausibly, small specials disappeared because their predictability made them close substitutes for regular dividend signals, while large specials survived because their sheer size automatically differentiates them from regulars.