How did a cash dividend impact Lowe’s financial position?

On November 2, 2016, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) paid a cash dividend of $0.35 per share to shareholders of record as of October 19, 2016.  The Lowe’s Board of Directors declared this dividend on August 19, 2016.

As of the end of Lowe’s 2015 year (January 29, 2016), Lowe’s had 910 million shares of common stock issued and outstanding.

Questions

1. Name each of the dates related to Lowe’s cash dividend: (a) August 19, 2016; (b) October 19, 2016; and (c) November 2, 2016.
2. On August 19, 2016, how will Lowe’s assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity be impacted by the Board of Directors’ action?
3. On October 19, 2016, how will Lowe’s assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity be impacted by the Board of Directors’ action?
4. On November 2, 2016, how will Lowe’s assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity be impacted by the Board of Directors’ action?
5. What is the total amount of the cash dividend that Lowe’s will pay related to this announcement?

Instructor Resources

These resources are provided to give the instructor flexibility for use of Accounting in the Headlines articles in the classroom. The blog posting itself can be assigned via a link to this site OR by distributing the student handout below. Alternatively, the PowerPoint file below contains a bullet point overview of the article and the discussion questions.

• Student handout (pdf) (word) (contains entire blog posting + discussion questions)
• PowerPoint file (brief article overview + discussion questions)

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