Stock repurchase Harte Textiles, Inc., a maker of custom upholstery fabrics, is concerned about preserving the wealth of its stockholders during a cyclic downturn in the home furnishings business. The company has maintained a constant dividend payout of $4.00 tied to a target payout ratio of 50%. Management is preparing a share repurchase recommendation to present to the firm's board of directors. The following data have been gathered from the last two years: E a. How many shares should the company have outstanding in 2019 if its earnings available for common stockholders in that year are $1,600,000 and it pays a dividend of $4.00, given that its desired payout ratio is 50%? b. How many shares would Harte have to repurchase to have the level of shares outstanding calculated in part a? a. The number of shares the company should have outstanding is shares. (Round to the nearest whole number.) b. To have the level of shares outstanding calculated in part a, the number of shares Harte would have to repurchase is shares. (Round to the nearest whole number.) - X Data table (Click on the icon here in order to copy the contents of the data table below into a spreadsheet.) Earnings available for common stockholders Number of shares outstanding Earnings per share Market price per share Price/earnings ratio 2018 $1,680,000 250,000 $6.72 $36.96 5.5 2019 $1,600,000 250.000 $6.40 $31.36 4.9 Print Done