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Dividends, earnings volatility and information

Author

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  • Ben Howatt
  • Richard Zuber
  • John Gandar
  • Reinhold Lamb

Abstract

It is generally accepted that a firm's dividend policy can provide information about its future financial performance. Most studies link dividend policy with firm valuation; however, other signals involving dividend policy are also observed. The focus of this article is not to continue the examination of the return (valuation) information contained in dividend announcements, but rather to consider the information about risk that the announcements provide. We consider the 'risk information hypothesis', whereby management provides the market with new information about the risk of the firm's earnings variability through their dividend policy. The results of our study provide evidence that positive changes in dividends are associated with positive future changes in mean real Earnings Per Share (EPS). Furthermore, a significant increase in EPS variance (risk) after a dividend change is observed for all dividend change classifications except for dividend omissions. The strongest signal of future variance shifts is with dividend increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Howatt & Richard Zuber & John Gandar & Reinhold Lamb, 2009. "Dividends, earnings volatility and information," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(7), pages 551-562.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apfiec:v:19:y:2009:i:7:p:551-562
    DOI: 10.1080/09603100802345397
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    2. Aroh Nkechi Nympha. Ph.D & Egolum, Priscilla Uchenna. Ph.D & Chukwuani Victoria Nnenna. Ph.D, 2021. "Dividend Policy Determinants of Firm Value: Empirical Evidence from Listed Non-Financial Companies in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(07), pages 612-634, July.
    3. Raluca Georgiana Moscu, 2014. "Empirical Evidences Regarding Correlation between Dividend Policy and the Performance of Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 4(12), pages 445-451, December.
    4. K. H. Nguyen, 2014. "Impact of a dividend initiation wave on shareholder wealth," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(8), pages 573-586, April.
    5. Kartal Demirg ne, 2015. "Determinants of Target Dividend Payout Ratio: A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 418-426.
    6. Michael Dempsey & Abeyratna Gunasekarage & Thanh Tan Truong, 2019. "The association between dividend payout and firm growth: Australian evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(4), pages 2345-2376, December.
    7. Duo Xu & Christopher Gan & Zhaohua Li & Pengcheng Wang, 2021. "Earnings, Working Capital and Dividend Payout: Evidence from the London Stock Exchange," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(2), pages 421-449, November.
    8. Dasilas, Apostolos & Leventis, Stergios, 2011. "Stock market reaction to dividend announcements: Evidence from the Greek stock market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 302-311, April.
    9. Sanjeev Kumar & K. S. Ranjani, 2018. "Dividend Behaviour of Indian-listed Manufacturing and Service Sector Firms," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 20(1), pages 179-193, February.
    10. Silvia Bressan, 2023. "Reinsurance and Sustainability: Evidence from International Insurers," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 13(6), pages 1-8.
    11. 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.
    12. Cao, Yuqiang & Li, Chenglin & Liu, Xinghe & Lu, Meiting & Shan, Yaowen, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and debt allocation within business groups," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    13. Hanaan Yaseen & Ruxandra Trifan, 2019. "The Impact of Dividend Events on Stock Returns: Findings on Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 11(2), pages 59-78, December.
    14. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    15. Kathryn E. Easterday & Pradyot K. Sen, 2023. "Another look at the dividend-price relationship in the accounting valuation framework," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 879-925, October.
    16. Aroh Nkechi Nympha. Ph.D & Egolum, Priscilla Uchenna. Ph.D & Chukwuani Victoria Nnenna. Ph.D, 2021. "Dividend Policy Determinants of Firm Value: Empirical Evidence from Listed Non-Financial Companies in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(7), pages 612-634, July.

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