According to the case, the payout by FPL is appropriate. The case further emphasized that investors are used to getting high payouts from the utility companies. Looking at the case, it was reported that after FPL announced the change in dividend policy on March 3rd, 1994, that it would be difficult to increase the dividend. Then on May 9th, 1994 FPL announced the dividend cut with the stock repurchase program and the stock price fell $43.75 to $27.50. Then on May 31st, FPL's stock closed at $32.17, or about 30 cents higher than the pre-announcement price. One year later, FPL's stock price closed at $37.75, giving stockholders a return of 23.8%. Finally, almost two years later on April 1, 1996 FPL's stock was trading at $45.25, which provided stockholders with a post-announcement return of 52.9%. Investors ran for cover because they were not used to this type of announcement for this sector, so such news is considered as being negative news, especially for a company that has steadily increased dividends payout for the past 48yrs. On the other hand once investors see that FPL was repurchasing its stocks, this gave them the information that the stocks are healthy and will be increasing in the near future or else why would they be repurchasing if FPL is not stable.