Dividend Increases Research Articles

Consumer confidence as a mediator between dividend announcements and stock returns

Abstract In this study, we examine the potential influence of consumer confidence on the association between announcing dividend payments and stock returns. We used FTSE 350 spanning the period from 1990 to 2021, using the UK consumer confidence index as a proxy for investor sentiment. The primary empirical test focused on cumulative abnormal returns [− 1, + 1], supplemented by a robustness test spanning [− 10, + 10]. Additionally, a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation was conducted using CAR [− 1, + 1]. Our analysis revealed: under positive consumer confidence, firms announcing dividend increases experienced a positive market response, while under negative consumer confidence, firms announcing dividend decreases elicited a negative market reaction. This study contributes valuable insights to the discourse on investor sentiment and its impact on stock market dynamics.

Determinants of Leverage in Emerging Markets and the Moderating Effect of Foreign Ownership: Evidence from Nigeria

Managers of corporations are usually faced with several strategic decisions to make, including those related to capital structure and financial leverage. This study examines the determinants of leverage practices of listed non-financial firms, both local and foreign, and the moderating effect of foreign ownership. The study uses data from 61 listed non-financial firms over the period 2011–2021 and employs the generalized method of moments estimation technique to explore direct and moderating relationships. The key findings show that profitability, firm growth, liquidity, asset tangibility, capital expenditure, dividend and foreign ownership decrease leverage significantly, while holding more cash increases leverage practices significantly. In particular, firm growth, asset tangibility and dividend increase leverage insignificantly (significantly for cash), whereas return on asset and liquidity significantly decrease leverage in local firms (insignificantly for capital expenditure). On the other hand, all firm characteristics, except cash and dividends, significantly decrease leverage in foreign firms. Moreover, foreign firms have more debt financing compared to the local firms in Nigeria. It is also evident that foreign ownership moderates the relationship between return on asset, firm growth and leverage practices. Such findings should assist managers, investors and regulators in Nigeria to understand the determining factors of leverage and to consider the accruing benefits of debt financing over equity financing.

DIVIDEND POLICY IN MAINLAND CHINA AND THE US: A STUDY ON NON-FINANCIAL LISTED COMPANIES

This paper aims to assess the common characteristics of dividend payers and non-payers in both China and the US, as well as the stability of dividend policies in each respective nation. The study addresses issues related to catering theory, signal theory, smoothing assumptions, and Fama-French hypotheses. Our analysis covers 509 non-financial firms during the period 2006-2016, comprising 419 firms from the US and 90 firms from China. The multinomial regression reveals that past dividend payouts are critical in explaining dividend policy in both the US and China. Firms that have consistently paid higher dividends in the preceding year are more likely to opt for dividend increases rather than omitting dividends, thus aligning with the dividend smoothing hypothesis. Additionally, firm size and stock market performance were found to be significantly influencing dividend payouts across different categories in both the US and China. However, US firms primarily drove dividend payouts through profitability and the dividend premium, while firm size and leverage heavily influenced Chinese dividends. Interestingly, Chinese firms appear to practice a less sticky dividend policy than US firms, implying that the role played by dividend policy in signalling and catering theories in China is less significant than in the US.

Financial decision dynamics: Environmental, social, and governance factors and managerial choices in emerging markets

This study examines the linkage between the ESG performance of firms and managerial decision-making. It uses 8 years of ESG performance data of 110 Indian firms collected from the Thomson Reuters database. The study finds that high ESG performance mitigates a firm’s cost of debt more than equity cost. Furthermore, increases in ESG performance are associated with higher capital expenditures, lower investment cash flow sensitivity, higher cash holdings, and lesser payout of increased cash flows to shareholders. The findings are in sync with the Slack resources view, suggesting that the requirement of financial Slack for ESG-related innovations and risk-bearing is large and impacts the major managerial decisions of firms. While the effects of environmental and social performance on these decisions are similar to that of the composite ESG performance, governance performance shows an independent impact on the payout decisions of firms. The Granger Causality test reveals a bi-directional association between debt issues and ESG performance. The main results obtained from the multiple panel regressions are robust to additional tests involving lead-lag analysis. The overall findings of this study highlight the importance of ESG performance screening in the managerial decision-making process of investors who would not like to risk growth potential for a short-term increase in dividends.

Do dividends and share repurchases convey information about financial strength? An exploration of the disparities between banks and industrial firms

AbstractDiffering from prior literature, this article suggests dividends are positively associated with financial strength for both financial institutions (i.e., banks) and non‐financial firms (i.e., industrials), and that this relationship is much more pronounced for banks. We also find that the signaling impacts of dividend changes on financial strength are asymmetric for these two groups as a decrease (increase) in dividends is more powerful than an increase (decrease) for banks (industrials). This suggests that dividend cuts send a more significant negative signal of bank financial strength than similar decreases by industrial firms, and that dividend increases say more about industrials' improvements in financial strength than those by banks. Similar to dividends, share repurchases are indications of financial strength for industrials but not for banks. This suggests that share repurchases serve more as a buffer (substitute) of dividends for banks (industrials).

ESG Ratings and Dividend Changes: Evidence From the Initiation of Nonfinancial Agency Coverage

ABSTRACTResearch Question/IssueThis paper examines whether the coverage of nonfinancial rating (NFR) agencies affects corporate dividend policy.Research Findings/InsightsWe argue that dividend payout may decrease (increase) if NFR agencies provide information that reduces (increases) shareholder–manager agency (shareholder–stakeholder) conflict. We find that the coverage by an NFR agency is followed by an increase in dividends. This result is more pronounced for firms with more influential shareholders, poorer financial performance, and greater ESG commitment. We corroborate our findings using the acquisitions of NFR agencies and the expansion of NFR agencies' coverage as two main exogenous shocks. Lastly, our results hold for both US firms and non‐US firms.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsCollectively, this paper supports that the ESG ratings made available by NFR rating agencies following their rating coverage increase shareholder–stakeholder conflict to a greater extent than its effect on reducing shareholder–managers agency conflict.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsOur paper delivers critical insights to regulators striving to comprehend the functions of NFR agencies within the capital market more effectively. Such an understanding can further support their efforts to formulate new guidelines suitable for the burgeoning and swiftly evolving industry of NFR agencies.

Dividend signalling and investor protection: An international comparison

This study examines whether dividend changes signal future earnings growth in non-US markets following the Ham et al. (2020) methodology and whether the strength of the earnings signal varies with the level of investor protection. Based on the notion that weak investor protection reduces the cost of cutting dividends and as such increases managers’ discretion to change dividends, we expect that the strength of the earnings signal in dividend increases becomes weaker as investor protection decreases. In a sample drawn from 38 different markets, our results indicate while dividends can signal future earnings in non-US markets, the strength of the signal is weaker than that in the US. In line with our predictions, we find that for firms in a strong investor protection environment, dividend changes are correlated more strongly with subsequent earning changes than is the case for firms in weak investor protection environments.

Calendar anomalies and dividend announcements effects on the stock markets returns

In this study, we extend the existing literature around dividend signaling theory and calendar anomalies by addressing the question of whether calendar anomalies, including Halloween, Turn-of-the-Month (TOM), January, Monday, and Friday effects, have any influence on the relationship between stock returns and dividend announcements. Previous studies have primarily focused on demonstrating the impact of calendar anomalies on overall stock market returns. Our main aim is to investigate whether the Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) associated with dividend announcements made by firms listed in the FTSE 350 index exhibit deviations from the norm due to these calendar anomalies. Our findings reveal a notable asymmetry in the reactions to dividend increase and decrease announcements. Specifically, the timing of dividend increase announcements appears to have no significant effect on their associated CARs. However, dividend decrease announcements made during periods characterized by seasonality exhibit CARs that differ significantly from those observed during normal times. Importantly, these findings remain robust across various alternative economic model specifications, including interaction models, binary models, and GMM estimations. Consequently, our results suggest that calendar anomalies, such as Halloween, January, and Friday effects, play a key role in shaping the association between stock returns and dividend announcements.

Boardroom dynamics: the impact of board gender diversity on discretionary dividend policy in US REITs

Purpose This study aims to address a notable gap in the existing literature by exploring the relationship between gender diversity and dividend policy within the context of US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Design/methodology/approach The authors use a substantial data set comprising 1,398 firm-year observations across 209 US REIT companies from 2011 to 2021 to address the research aims. Fixed effects models and generalized least squares regression methods are used in the analysis. Findings The results demonstrate a significant positive association between board gender diversity and higher dividend payouts among US REITs. This relationship holds after controlling for corporate governance and other firm-level factors. The findings have strong implications that the presence of women on REIT boards contributes to a greater propensity for discretionary dividend increases in the USA. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by empirically examining female directors’ role in influencing US REITs’ dividend policies, an area lacking adequate prior scholarship. The paper also considers the unique regulatory environment of REITs, highlighting the importance of the study for externally financed firms.

Adults in the room? The auditor and dividends in small firms: evidence from a natural experiment

We examine the effect of auditing on dividends in small private firms. We hypothesize that auditing can constrain dividends by way of promoting accounting conservatism. We use register data on private Norwegian firms and random variation induced by the introduction of a policy allowing small private firms to forgo the use of an auditor to estimate the effect of auditing on dividend payout. Identification is obtained by a regression discontinuity around the arbitrary thresholds for the policy. Propensity score matching is used to create a balanced synthetic control. We consistently find that forgoing auditing led to a significant increase in dividends in small private firms.

The relationship between changes in corporate payout policy and capital structure

This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate dividend policy on the capital structure in the Korean stock market. To distinctly discern the voluntariness of changes in corporate dividend policy, we analyze companies that, following a substantial increase, do not reduce dividends for the subsequent two years or, after a significant decrease, do not raise dividends for the following two years. Our empirical findings indicate that companies that increase dividends experience a significant decrease in both book and market leverage, even after controlling for variables such as target leverage ratios. This result suggests that a large increase in dividends can effectively reduce information asymmetry, leading to a lower cost of equity. On the contrary, after a decrease in dividends, both book leverage and market leverage significantly increase, revealing a symmetric relationship between dividend policy and capital structure. In conclusion, large dividend increases in Korean companies not only reduce information asymmetry but also lower the cost of equity capital, resulting in observable changes in the leverage ratio.

Dividend announcements and stock returns: a retrospective analysis

PurposeThis study aims to provide insights into different aspects of the extant literature on the effects of dividend announcements. Along with other outputs of a bibliometric study, this study provides deeper insights into the concentration of the extant literature and suggest future research agendas.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the bibliometric, network and content analysis of the dividend announcement literature indexed in Scopus. This study presents the temporal analysis, the network of authors, countries, author citations and the co-occurrence of author keywords. This study provides the concentration of the extant literature in three clusters and unearth some key future research areas. This study uses the latent Dirichlet allocation method for robustness.FindingsA total of 54 documents examining the US sample have received 1,804 citations. Interestingly, the first article on emerging markets was published in 2002, when at least 34 articles on developed markets had already been published from 1982 to 2001. The content analysis of top-cited literature unveils diverse insights into dividend announcements’ effects on financial markets. Contagion effects negatively impact non-announcing banks, particularly larger ones. Dividend maintenance affects stock market momentum, influencing loser returns. While current dividend/earnings news may not predict future company performance, information content dominates bond market reactions to post-dividend announcements. Concomitantly, while financially constrained firms exhibit short-term gains but worse long-term performance following dividend increases, larger stock dividends send stronger market signals in China.Originality/valueThis study significantly contributes to the bibliometric and content analysis literature by analyzing the sample documents based on the sample examined. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous bibliometric study in this domain has been conducted to explore the markets (developed and emerging) to which the samples examined belong and the quality of publications from developed and emerging markets.

How does privatization affect cash dividends? Quasi-experimental evidence from China

Against the backdrop of privatization experienced by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in recent years, this study investigates how privatized firms change cash dividend payments. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) research design, we find an increase in cash dividends following privatization. Additional analyses reveal two channels underlying the increase in dividend payouts – that is, reduced insider tunnelling and agency problems associated with cash holding, and improved information environment after privatization. Our findings enrich the literature on privatization by providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms explaining the increased cash dividends from the agency theory and information environment perspectives.

PPG Board of Directors approve dividend increase to 65 cents per share

PPG Board of Directors approve dividend increase to 65 cents per share

Foreign Investors and the Peer Effects to Payout Policies

Abstract This research studies the influence of foreign investors on payout policies and the peer effect of dividends. We show that peer effects on dividend policies exist in Korea using an instrumental variable approach. Additionally, our results suggest that foreign investor activities intensify the peer effect on dividend policies. Firms with a higher net purchase by foreign investors are more heavily scrutinized to reduce information asymmetry between managers and shareholders. This monitoring behavior affects dividend choices among firms and the responsiveness to peer influence. Further, the impact of foreign investors is prominent for dividend increases but not for decreases.

Repatriation tax and dividend policy

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of the repatriation tax provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on firms’ dividend policy. Our findings show that the firms most affected by the repatriation tax provision, that is, those with high foreign sales, reward shareholders by substantially increasing dividends per share, but maintain aggregate dollar dividends. Dividend per share (DPS) increasing firms repurchase at significantly higher magnitudes than non‐dividend per share increasing firms, suggesting that DPS increasing firms partially utilize repurchases to avoid substantial increases in their long‐term aggregate dividend commitments. We also investigate whether managers reap the rewards of dividend increases, finding that firms with high levels of executive ownership and foreign sales are more likely to increase their dividends per share after the TCJA was enforced. Overall, our results highlight the importance of the interconnection between dividends and repurchases in examining the response of firm payout policy to external shocks.

Clariant: Record 2022 sales growth, EBITDA and cash conversion driven by strong operating performance; dividend increase proposed

Clariant: Record 2022 sales growth, EBITDA and cash conversion driven by strong operating performance; dividend increase proposed

Understanding the price reaction to large dividend increases

Recent studies report muted price reactions to large dividend increases, attributing the phenomenon to the fact that these events are part of volatile dividend streams and are followed by dividend cuts. I find that the price also reacts slower to large dividend increases, suggesting the price effects of these events are more uncertain than small dividend increases. Further analysis shows that large dividend increases display some persistence and this offsets the effects of subsequent dividend cuts on future dividends. These results are more consistent with the muted price reaction arising from market concerns about dividend volatility than subsequent dividend cuts.

Improving human development through urbanization, demographic dividend and biomass energy consumption

AbstractThe policy debate on the effects of urbanization, demographic dividend and biomass energy consumption on human development in Africa has long suffered from a scarcity of empirical evidence. This study, therefore, explores the relationship between urbanization, demographic dividend, biomass energy consumption and human development (measured by the human development index, human capital, life expectancy and infant mortality) in 33 African countries between 1990 and 2019. We employ Driscoll‐Kraay, instrumental variable and the panel quantile regression methods. We find that an increase in urbanization, demographic dividend and biomass energy consumption leads to a higher level of human development. Accounting for different facets of human development such as education (human capital) and health (life expectancy and infant mortality), the results show that urbanization and biomass energy consumption improve education and health. The results also show that while demographic dividend improves education and infant mortality, its effect on life expectancy is negative and significant. These findings are robust for reliable and consistent policy directives.

Banking Corporation Dividend Policy – Evidence from ASEAN-6 Countries

Purpose : The study aims to investigate the effect of Return on Assets (ROA), Asset Turnover (Ast-Tvr), Leverage, Change in Earnings (ChE), and Size on dividend policy as measured by Dividend Increase (DIC) on banking companies in Asean-6 Countries.
 Method : We employed eight-year observation period from 2012 to 2019, thus the purposive method obtained 134 companies as samples. This study used regression analysis by Logistic Regression as the method and collected the secondary data from the annual financial statements of banking companies of ASEAN-6 countries which comprises of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
 Findings : The results show that ROA, Ast-Tvr, Leverage, ChE, and Size have no significant effect on dividend policy.
 Novelty : To the best of our knowledge, there is no literature examining dividend policy in ASEAN-6 countries. Hence, we tried to fill the gap in terms of dividend policies in ASEAN-6 Countries. Further, this study contributes further research to provide evidence of what policies are set by banking corporations in ASEAN countries. This research also displays a better understanding for stakeholders and investors in interpreting the dividend related information prior taking the investment decision.
 Keywords : Dividend Policy; ROA; Asset Turnover; Leverage; Change in Earnings; ASEAN-6 Countries