RE:RBC The dividend should be budgeted, and quoted, as a function of OPERATING cash flow, not free cash flow.
Otherwise, every time there's an acquisition (and therefore debt is taken on), shareholders get moved to the back of the bus. The dividend has stayed at $1.60, while inflation has significantly raised every other line item in the business.
Further, the share buyback barely covered the amount of shares handed out to executives and board members. The buyback is not "profits returned to the shareholders", it's profits handed to the executives.