The sample data are grouped according to the direction of dividend changes from one quarter to another,10 and by the number of trading days between earnings and dividend announcement dates in any given quarter. The sample includes 2612 dividend announcements that follow (Panel A) and 787 that precede (Panel B) quarterly earnings announcements by at least eleven trading days. Among these are 384 increases, 47 decreases, and 2968 cases of no change in dividends