An Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Dividend Policy of Indian Real Estate Sector

Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of dividend policy by analyzing the 125 real estate companies in India. To find out what determines dividend policy, ten firm-level explanatory variables are selected and regressed against the dividend policy measure dividend payout ratio. This study employs three measures of panel data analysis to discover the important determinants of the dividend payout ratio. Empirical findings indicate that firm risk as measured through price-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio), previous dividend, investment opportunities, and profitability have positive associated with a dividend payout ratio of selected real estate firms. On the other hand, the size of the firm, leverage, and liquidity significantly affect dividend payout ratios, and these variables have a negative relationship with a dividend payout ratio of the selected real estate firms. The present study shall be useful to different stakeholders of real estate companies.