We analyze the direct impacts of managerial overconfidence upon the dividend decision and demonstrate that the dividend levels and speeds of adjustment to target levels can increase when managers exhibit overconfidence. However, we demonstrate that the directional impact upon dividend levels...

Australian companies pay dividends semi-annually with smaller “interim” payments and larger “final” payments. Interim dividends are declared and paid within a less full information environment than final dividends. We analyze the interactions between the timing of dividends and their...

Firms are more likely to pay dividends with higher payout ratios in an imputation environment. The effects of profitability and earned/contributed capital mix on the decision to pay dividends and dividend payout are weaker for firms following imputation tax system than traditional tax system....

We find that informed trading in the option market prior to dividend initiation is negatively related to announcement period price reactions. This relation is more prevalent among firms with abnormal trading in call options, higher stock price runup, and higher option liquidity. We also find...

We find that firms with a corporate general counsel in top management (TMC) are less likely to pay dividends, and for such firms that do pay dividends, the dividend payouts are lower. Our results hold addressing both endogeneity concerns and selection biases. We also find that the presence of a...

We examine the operating performance subsequent to dividend initiations by comparing firms with similar pre-event operating performance and growth opportunities. We find strong (weak) evidence of information content for dividends initiated by firms subsequent (prior) to the 2003 tax cut in the...