seasoned equity issuing

1. Is long-term net debt issuing a major factor in determining the capital structure changes of U.S. firms—explaining why some firms are increasing their debt ratios and other firms are lowering their debt ratios?
2. How important is seasoned equity issuing activity that does not occur in the context of M&A activity, at least for S&P 100 firms?
3. If many equity shares appear in the context of M&A activity, does this imply that the firm’s debt/equity ratio is likely to go down?