I don’t invest in the stock market. As Warren Buffett said, if you’re not studying financial statements six hours a day as he does, you’re an amateur. I am somewhere below that category. However, your issue did inspire me to do a little research to see if what you allege is true. It doesn’t seem so. Here’s an article from an analyst showing the historic payments of dividends, and that their amount was not affected by the buybacks. To the contrary the dividend was increased that year. And according to this analyst, it will not be affected. The historic rate should continue. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4591779-lowes-dividend-king-extreme-discount