A Dividend Payment For Shareholders

The dividend policy has grown over the years. This may be so that the company projects itself as a less risky share and thus also gaining investors faith. The investors buy its shares and thus increase its demand. This helps to gives positive signals to the investors signalling that the company is stable and can generate earnings steadily. This hypothesis is gains standing from the dividend hypothesis theory.

When a company decides to pay dividends, it has to be careful on how much it will be given to the shareholders. It is of no use to pay shareholders dividends

Since the emergence of the so-called irrelevance theorem by Miller and Modigliani (1961), many corporations are puzzled about why some firms pay dividends while others do not. They were the first to study the effect of dividend policy on the market value of firms by assuming that there are no market imperfections. Miller and Modigliani (1961) proposed that divided policy chosen by a firm has no significant relationship in as far as the market valuation of the firm is concerned. They went further to explain that; the shareholders wealth remains unchanged irrespective of how the firm distributes it income because the firms’ value is rather determined by their investment policies and the earning power of its assets. They further stated that the opportunity to earn abnormal returns in the market does not exist, that is, owners are entitled to the normal market returns adjusted for risk.

In practice, dividend policy will be affected by taxes as tax rates for different categories of investors will differ. Also, a firm’s dividend policy is perceived by the financial markets to be a signaling mechanism. A cut back in dividends may signify that the firm perceives tough

We believe that Ms Stark should not revise her recommendation regarding FPL. The HOLD recommendation seems to be the most appropriate. Our judgement assumes a dividend cut from FPL. However, this dividend cut would be a precise strategic choice rather than one dictated by financing difficulties. Specifically, the dividend cut will raise future growth, with little effect on the stock price.

Because often dividends are perceived as spendable income (some stock holders look at stocks as a source of income as it is easier to get a dividend instead of selling the stocks). Sometimes investment opportunities are low, they reach the limit of their marketplace, so companies decides to distribute cash in the form of dividends. For some companies it is a way of showing that the company is stable financially and can fulfill the commitment of paying out a dividend. Also it is a way for companies to mitigate agency problems when they have excess cash.

The fact that shareholders are taxed twice through this repayment methodology infers that dividends are not their repayment technique of choice. Furthermore, paying out cash reserves through dividends also has the effect of both reducing the company’s assets and also inhibited the company’s ability to fund future growth as Dividends reduce the company’s retained earnings.

Dividends are subjected to higher tax rate compare to capital gain increased due to share buy-back. This discourages shareholders from desire to receive high dividends in place of higher capital gain as share values increase. A comparison is made below between the proposed capital structure and dividend policy.

The dividends that stockholders receive and the value of their stock shares depend on the business’s profit performance. Managers’ jobs depend on living up to the business’s profit goals.

It states that dividends affect the company’s value. The name “bird in hand” is the umbrella term for all studies that argues that dividends are positively correlated to the company’s value. It is based on the expression that “a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush”. Expressed in financial terms the theory says that investors are more willing to invest in stocks that pay current dividend rather than to invest in stocks that retain earnings and pay dividends in the future. This is due to the high degree of uncertainty related to capital gains and dividends paid in the future. Current dividends are more predictable than capital gains, since the stock price is determined by market forces and not by the managers it has a higher degree of uncertainty (Keown et.al,

A dividend is a usually distributed in cash form to stock holders of a corporation approved by the board of director. It may also include stock dividend or other forms of payment. A stock dividend represents a distribution of additional shares to common stockholders. Dividends are only cash payments regularly made by corporations to their stockholders.

Students will generally claim that dividends are valuable to shareholders, and that this decision is a big deal for EMI. This discussion motivates an introduction to the

Paying dividends will reduce the available funds of the company but is a way to increase shareholder value. Increasing or decreasing of DPR spells out the standing of the company to its shareholders. Reduction or not giving dividends for a period will reduce AFN but will mean that the company is struggling to provide enough profit. Shareholders may see this as a signal that further investments for the company are riskier.

Kumar (1988) builds a model that explains dividend smoothing - one of the most salient features of dividend policy. Dividends once again signal a firm’s quality (productivity), but, since they are over invested in the firm, managers will try to under invest by underreporting a firms productivity. While there is no fully revealing equilibrium, Kumar shows that firms will tend to cluster around optimal dividend levels. Agency theory suggests that dividends can be used as a means to control a firm’s management. Distributing dividends reduces the free cash

The first objection is related to the fact that this is a totally new approach concerning dividend policy, and nobody can predict what is going to happen. We consider that this may have positive effects on share prices, especially taking in consideration that it will stabilise the market price of the company.