1. Financial Analysis, Planning and Forecasting Theory and Application
Chapter 17
Dividend Policy Theory, Practice, and Empirical Evidence By
Cheng F. Lee
Rutgers University, USA
John Lee
Center for PBBEF Research, USA

2. Outline 17.1 Introduction 17.2 How firms pay dividends
17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
17.4 The irrelevance of dividend policy
17.5 Dividend payment and policy determination
17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases
17.7 Factors that influence dividend policy
17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
17.9 Behavioral considerations of dividend policy
17.10 Summary

3. 17.1 Introduction CAPM Neo-classical Option pricing
(Further extension)
Classical

4. 17.2 How firms pay dividends

5. 17.2 How firms pay dividends
(17.1)
Where
P0 = the price just before the stock goes ex
Px = the ex-dividend share price
D0 = the amount of the dividend per share (DPS)
Tp = the relevant marginal personal tax rate
Tg = the effective marginal tax rate on capital gains
If Tp = Tg = 0, or Tp = Tg, then Px = P0 – D (17.1a)

6. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
(17.2)
(17.3)
(17.4)

7. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
(17.5)
(17.6)

8. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm

9. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
(17.7)
(17.7a)
(17.8)
(17.9)

10. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
The Discount Cash Flow Approach
The Investment Opportunity Approach

11. 17.3 The value of dividend policy to the firm
Stream of Dividends Approach
Stream of Earnings Approach

12. 17.4 The irrelevance of dividend policy
(17.16)
(17.17)

13. 17.5 Dividend payment and policy determination

14. 17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases

15. 17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases

16. 17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases

17. 17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases

18. 17.6 Stock dividends, stock splits, and stock repurchases

19. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
(17.18)
where
Vi = Value of the ith person’s portfolio;
Xji = Dollar amount of security j in the ith portfolio;
z = Expected end-of-period price of security j;
Pj = Initial equilibrium price of security j;
tgi = Effective capital gains tax on ith investor;
dj = Dividend payment on security j;
tdj = Effective marginal tax rate applicable to dividend receipt by the ith
investor;
q = Expected return on the riskless asset;
X0i = Dollar amount invested in the riskless asset at t = 0 by the ith investor.

20. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem

21. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
(17.22)
(17.23)
(17.24)

22. The Litzenberger and Ramaswamy CAPM with taxes
17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
The Litzenberger and Ramaswamy CAPM with taxes
where
= Lagrange on the kth investor’s budget;
= Lagrange on the kth investor’s income and the
associated slack variable;
= Lagrange on the kth investor’s borrowing and the
di = Dividend yield on security i.

23. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem

24. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
E(Rj) - Tmdj = [rf(1 - Tm) + A](1 - βj) + [E(Rm) - Tmdm]βj,
(17.26a)
E(Rj) - Tmdj = [rf(1 - Tm)] + [E(Rm) - Tmdm - rf(1 - Tm)] βj.
(17.26b)
E(Rj) = (A + rf)(1 - βj) + E(Rm) βj (17.26c)
E(Rj) = rf + [E(Rm) - rf)] βj (17.26d)

25. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
Empirical Evidence
P = a0 + a1D + a2Y (17.29)
P = a0 + a1D + a2(Y - D) (17.30)

26. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
where
P = Price per share/Book value;
= 5-year average dividend/Book value;
d = Current year’s dividend/Book value;
= 5-year average retained earnings/Book value;
g = Current year’s retained earnings/Book value.
P = a0 + a1D + a2R + F (17.32)

27. 17.8 Issues marring the dividend problem
CAPM Approach Empirical Work
where
dj = Dj/Vj,
dm = Dm/Vm,
T1 = (Td - Tg)/(1 - Tg),
T2 = (1 - Td)/(1 - Tg) = 1 - T1,
Td = Average tax rate applicable to dividends,
Tg = Average tax rate applicable to capital gains.
Rjt - Rft = A + Bβjt + C(djt - Rft) (17.34)

28. 17.9 Behavioral considerations of dividend policy
Partial adjustment and information content models
D* = rEt, (17.36)
and
Dt - Dt-1 = a + b(D* - Dt-1) + ut (17.37)
where
D* = Firm’s desired dividend payment,
Ft = Net income of the firm during period t,
r = Target payout ratio,
a = A constant relating to dividend growth,
b = Adjustment factor relating the previous period’s
dividend and the new desired level of dividends,
where b is assumed to be less than one.

29. 17.9 Behavioral considerations of dividend policy
Dt - Dt-1 = a + b(rEt - Dt-1) + ut, (17.38)
Dt = rE* + ut (17.39)
(17.40)
Dt - Dt-1 = rbEt - bDt-1 + ut + ut-1(1 - b).
(17.41)

30. 17.9 Behavioral considerations of dividend policy
An Integration Model
(17.42)
Dt - Dt-1 = a + b1(D* - Dt-1) + ut, (17.43)
(17.44)
Dt - Dt-1 = ab2 + (1 - b1 - b2)Dt-1
- (1 - b2)(1 - b1)Dt-2
+ rb1b2Et - (1 - b2)ut-1 + ut.
(17.45)

31. 17.10 Summary
In this chapter we examined many of the aspects of dividend policy, primarily from the relevance-irrelevance standpoint, and from multiple pricing-valuation frameworks. From the Gordon growth model, or classical valuation view, we found that dividend policy was not irrelevant, and that increasing the dividend payout would increase the value of the firm. Upon entering the world of Modigliani and Miller where some ideal conditions are imposed, we found that dividends were only one stream of benefits we could examine in deriving a value estimate. However, even in their own empirical work on those other benefit streams, M&M were forced to include dividends, if only for their information content.

32. 17.10 Summary
Building on the Sharpe, Lintner, and Mossin CAPM derivations, Brennan showed that dividends would actually be determinantal to a firm’s cost of capital as they impose a tax penalty on shareholders. While this new CAPM is useful, however, Brennan considered only the effects associated with the difference between the original income tax and the capital-gains tax. Litzenberger and Ramaswamy extended Brennan’s model by introducing income, margin, and borrowing constraints. Their empirical results are quite robust, and show that higher and lower dividends mean different things to different groups of investors.

33. 17.10 Summary
Option-pricing theory was shown to make dividends a valuable commodity to investors due to the wealth-transfer issue. The theory (and the method) of dividend behavior also showed dividend forecasting to have positive value in financial management. In sum, we conclude that dividends policy does generally matter, and it should be considered by financial managers in doing financial analysis and planning. The interactions between dividend policy, financing, and investment policy will be explored in the next chapter.