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Shareholder Wealth Effects of Dividend Policy Changes in an Emerging Stock Market: The Case of Cyprus

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  • Nickolaos Travlos

    (ALBA, Greece, and Cardiff Business School, U.K.)

  • Lenos Trigeorgis

    (University of Cyprus, Cyprus, and University of Chicago, U.S.A.)

  • Nikos Vafeas

    (University of Cyprus, Cyprus)

Abstract

This article examines the stock market reaction to announcements of cash dividend increases and bonus issues (stock dividends) in the emerging stock market of Cyprus. Both events elicit significantly positive abnormal returns, in line with evidence from developed stock markets. This study contends that special characteristics of the Cyprus stock market delimit applicability of most traditional explanations for cash and stock dividends in favor of an information-signaling explanation. The empirical results are generally inconsistent with these contentions.

Suggested Citation

  • Nickolaos Travlos & Lenos Trigeorgis & Nikos Vafeas, 2001. "Shareholder Wealth Effects of Dividend Policy Changes in an Emerging Stock Market: The Case of Cyprus," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 5(2), pages 87-112, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mfj:journl:v:5:y:2001:i:2:p:87-112
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    Cited by:

    1. Karamjeet Kaur & Balwinder Singh, 2009. "Stock Price Reaction to Bonus Share Announcements in India," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 34(2), pages 202-226, May.
    2. Raluca Georgiana Moscu & Carmen-Judith Grigorescu & Ligia Prodan, 2014. "Dividend Policy and Payout Ratio.Evidence from Bucharest Stock Exchange," Knowledge Horizons - Economics, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 6(4), pages 25-29, December.
    3. Adebayo G. Oloidi & Patrick O. Adeyeye, 2014. "Determinants of Dividend per Share: Evidence from the Nigerian Stock Exchange," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 2(12), pages 496-501, December.
    4. Mohit Gupta & Navdeep Aggarwal, 2018. "Signaling Effect of Shifts in Dividend Policy: Evidence from Indian Capital Markets," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 6(2), pages 142-153, July.
    5. Shireen Rosario & Kavita Chavali, 2016. "Market Reaction on Dividend Announcement in Oman: An Event Study Methodology," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(1), pages 103-108.
    6. Nagendra Marisetty & Pardhasaradhi Madasu, 2021. "Signaling Hypothesis and Size Anomaly in Indian Stock Market," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(9), pages 1-94, September.
    7. Daniel Ofori-Sasu & Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Achampong Kofi Osei, 2017. "Dividend Policy and Shareholders’ Value: Evidence from Listed Companies in Ghana," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 293-304, June.
    8. repec:hur:ijaraf:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:130-136 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Jais, Mohamad & Abdul Karim, Bakri & Funaoka, Kenta & Abidin, Azlan Zainol, 2009. "Dividend Announcements and Stock Market Reaction," MPRA Paper 19779, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Eric Girard & Amit Sinha, 2006. "Does Total Risk Matter? The Case of Emerging Markets," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 10(1-2), pages 117-151, March-Jun.
    11. Andreas Charitou, 2007. "Discussion of The Differences Between Stock Splits and Stock Dividends: Evidence on the Retained Earnings Hypothesis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3‐4), pages 605-612, April.
    12. Eleni Gkeka & Kosmas Kosmidis & Georgios Simitsis, 2018. "The value relevance of dividend announcement: An empirical study of the Greek Stock Market," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 11(2), pages 44-50, September.
    13. Robert Joliet & Aline Muller, 2015. "Dividends and Foreign Performance Signaling," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 19(2), pages 77-107, June.
    14. Khan, Kanwal Iqbal & Ghafoor, Muhammad Mudassar & Sheeraz, Muhammad & Mahmood, Shahid, 2018. "Pay or not to Pay Dividends: Company Policy and Investor Expectations," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 137-157.
    15. Raluca-Georgiana MOSCU, 2012. "Determinant Agents Analysis of Dividend Policies Practiced by Companies Listed in Great Britain and France," Romanian Statistical Review Supplement, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 60(1), pages 28-34, March.
    16. Matthias Nnadi & Nyema Wogboroma & Bariyima Kabel, 2013. "Determinants of Dividend Policy: Evidence from Listed Firms in the African Stock Exchanges," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 60(6), pages 725-741, December.
    17. Ken L. Bechmann, 2004. "Price and Volume Effects Associated with Changes in the Danish Blue-Chip Index: The KFX Index," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 8(1-2), pages 3-34, March-Jun.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cash dividends; emerging markets; stock dividends;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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