Economic conditions and the motives for multiple open-market share buybacks

We examine the impact of business conditions on the frequency of share repurchases. The results generally indicate that share repurchase programs are positive and statistically significant in HIGH economic states relative to the other economic states. Segmenting the data into frequency of repurchases, we find evidence suggesting different economic states exert influence on frequent and infrequent but not occasional repurchase programs. Further, we show that firms that institute frequent share repurchasing programs experience stronger returns across different business cycles compared to infrequent and occasional share repurchasers. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.Damien Farrugia, Michael Graham and Alfred Yawso