nearly 90% of firms with low P/E ratios state that market
undervaluation could lead to repurchases. Overall, the consistency between the results in this section and
previous sections highlights the pervasiveness of management views about what drives payout policy.
The interviews provide one interesting insight about dividend initiation. The inflexibility of dividends,
once a company starts paying them, acts as a strong deterrent to dividend initiation. The CFOs argue that
dividend inflexibility makes non-dividend-paying firms very hesitant to begin paying dividends in the
first place. In this sense, dividend conservatism is a force that affects the actions of all firms, payers and
non-payers alike.
7.