Study On Listed Company Dividend Policy

Western scholars have been probing the issue of dividend policy. They have conducted a lot of theoretical studies and empirical analyses, and put forward various theories with different ideas. However, the study of dividend policy has just begun in China. Therefore, this paper tries to review the theory and empirical evidence regarding dividend policy, and perform an empirical study of the correlation between changes in dividend of the listed company and the fluctuation of the stock price, with a view to help Chinese listed companies in their decision on dividend.This paper is divided into four chapters. In Chapter l,the paper reviews a great deal of relevant western literature, makes an overall comprehensive analysis of and comments on the dividend policy theories. In chapter 2 analyses the affecting factors of dividend policy .Find the affecting factors from company construction. In chapter 3 compared the different dividend policy between U.S and Japanese companies.Chapter 4 of the paper selected the listed companies to test information content of dividend policy in China. Empirical result shows:(l)After announcement of a change in dividend, stock price not only changes in the same direction as the dividend, but also in a certain proportion.(2)The change in dividend of Chinese listed companies does not give the information regarding the future earning ability of the related companies, but only gives the information about the company's earning in the current year.The major contributions of this paper are: First, the comprehensive exploration and comment on the development of the dividend policy theories in the West will provide a theoretical reference basis for Chinese listed companies to make their dividend policy; Second, the empirical study on the signal implication of dividend policy provide an empirical basis for the government to protect the investors and standardize the distribution of dividends.