Efficient Signalling with Dividends and Investments.

An efficient signaling equilibrium with dividends and investment, or equivalently, dividends and either sales or repurchases of stock, is constructed and its properties are identified. Because corporate insiders can exploit two signals, the efficient mix minimizes dissipative costs. In equilibrium, many firms both distribute dividends and deviate from first-best investment. Also, the impact of dividends on stock prices is positive. By contrast, the announcement effect of new stock is negative for firms with private information primarily about assets in place and positive for firms with inside information mainly about opportunities to invest. Copyright 1987 by American Finance Association.