(Adds buybacks and dividends by Boeing, Honeywell, Trinity, Veeco, Fortune Brands, Morningstar, MSG Networks)

Dec 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved a tax overhaul on Dec. 2 that put lawmakers on course to slash corporate tax rates to roughly 20 percent and deliver a huge windfall to major U.S. companies.

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders predict the cuts will encourage U.S. companies to invest more, boosting economic growth.

As companies draw up budgets for next year, the extent of investment will also depend on how much they choose to pay out to investors through share buybacks and dividend payouts.

Following are the share buyback and dividend announcements made by U.S. companies since the essence of the tax bill was agreed :

- Boeing raises dividend by 20 pct to $1.71 per share and establishes new $18 billion repurchase program; the world’s biggest maker of jetliners in October reported third-quarter earnings of $3.06 per share.

- Honeywell board authorizes repurchase of up to $8 billion of common stock.

- Trinity Industries increases share repurchase authorization to $500 mln from $250 mln over two years.

- Veeco authorizes $100 million share repurchase program.

- Fortune Brands increases quarterly dividend 11 percent to $0.20 per share and authorizes $250 million share buyback

- Morningstar Inc authorizes new $500 million share repurchase program and increases quarterly dividend 8.7 percent to $0.25 per share

- MSG Networks announces $150 mln stock repurchase program

- Bristol-Myers Squibb raises its quarterly dividend by 2.6 percent

- Anthem Inc increases share buyback program by $5 billion

- United Airlines unveils $3 billion share repurchase program

- Home Depot sets $15 bln share buyback, investment plan

- Stryker Corp boosts quarterly dividend per share by 11 percent

- Owens Corning raises dividend payout per share by 5 percent

- Edwards Lifesciences Corp approves new $1 billion share repurchase program

- Bank of America plans to repurchase additional $5 billion in common stock by June 30

- T-Mobile USA announces $1.5 billion buyback

- Mastercard board approves 25 percent raise in quarterly dividend, authorizes buyback of up to $4 billion of Class A stock

- Kinder Morgan says still expects increase in dividend to $1.00 per share in 2019 and $1.25 per share in 2020. The company stated in its Q2 results, it expects to raise dividend to $0.80 per share in 2018, $0.20 per share in Q1

- TE Connectivity approves additional $1.5 billion share repurchase and increases quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share from $0.40 per share

- Dover Corp sees share repurchases of $1 billion in 2018

- American Tower to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of common stock

- Ciena announces $300 million share repurchase authorization

- Dollar General reiterates forecast for share repurchases for fiscal 2017 at about $450 mln

- SG Networks Inc announces $150 million stock repurchase program (Reporting by Suhail Hassan Bhat)