the following days. This dividend pay date effect has strengthened since the 1970s, and is consistent with the temporary … price pressure hypothesis. The pay date effect is concentrated among stocks with dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs), and is … larger for stocks with a higher dividend yield, greater DRIP participation, and greater limits to arbitrage. Over time …

that institutional investors are net sellers in dividend reduction firms during the two quarters prior to the announcements …. They also trade more intensively in firms that do not prepare the market for dividend cuts or that have greater information …