The Empirical Research Of The Listed Companies' Dividend Policy In China

In listed companies, dividend policy, financing projects and investment decisions are referred to as the top three decisions in financial management theory. Besides, they always are difficult problems in the modern financial management theory. Since 1960s, Dividend Irrelevance Theory was firstly proposed by Miller and Modigliani, the research of dividend policy began to arouse more attention from economists. Scholars make some theoretical studies. and empirical analysis on dividend policy, and proposed a variety of dividend theories, but failed to reach a consensus, As Black remarked in his paper, "When we made more attempts to study it, it is more like a puzzle."Compared with developed countries, the theoretical study into dividend policy is relatively late in China. The theories and practices of dividend policy were still in an exploratory stage. This paper combines the theoretical analysis with the empirical studies; make a research into the status quo and influencing factors of dividend policy of listed companies. First section makes a statistic description to the actuality of dividend distribution in listed companies of China, to analyses the characteristics of dividend policy over the past decade and to provide a realistic basis for the following empirical research. The statistical analysis indicates the following several characteristics of dividend policy in listed companies of China: dividend distributions are various in forms and cash dividends occupy the dominant position; the pay level of cash dividends accounts for a distinct low proportion, some companies'currency sending behaviors are associated with their financing requirements; The phenomenon of non-distribution are very common; Dividend policy fluctuates greatly, Lack of continuity and stability; The level of total dividend appears low. Then the paper theoretically analyses the influential factors on dividend policy. On the basis of theoretical analysis, this dissertation brings forward the hypotheses of empirical research. Finally, build model combines with three variables:cash dividend payout ratio; stock dividend payout ratio; total dividend payout ratio, which can indicate the level of dividend payments. Finally, build model combines with three variables:cash dividend payout ratio; stock dividend payout ratio; total dividend payout ratio, which can indicate the level of dividend payments. The empirical research finds out that:the pay level of cash dividends is influenced by companies'profitable ability, debt to asset ratio, cash dividend payout ratio of the previous year, ownership concentration, percentage of tradable shares, industry factors and supervision factors; Meanwhile, the pay level of stock dividends is affected by companies'profitable ability, stock dividend payout ratio of the previous year and the net asset value per-share. The pay level of total dividends relates to the liquidity of assets, company scale, the net asset value per-share, ownership concentration, industry factors and supervision factors.