AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND FINANCIAL LEVERAGE ON THE DIVIDEND POLICIES OF LISTED FIRMS IN NIGERIA
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In an attempt to provide a developing economy perspective to the corporate dividend puzzle, this
study basically examined the effects of ownership structure and financial leverage on the dividend
payouts of firms operating in Nigeria. Using the judgmental sampling technique, a sample
of 50 selected listed firms from the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market where analyzed using the
annual reports for the period 2006 to 2010. The choice of the selected firms’ arises based on the
capital structure and the availability of data for the listed firms. The regression analysis method
was employed as a statistical technique for analyzing the data collected from the annual report of
the selected firms. Findings from the paper revealed that there is a significant positive relationship
between ownership structure and the dividend payout of the sampled firms in Nigeria. In
addition, the paper revealed that there is a significant negative relationship between financial
leverages and the dividend payout of firms. Thus the paper concludes that while the ownership
structure of firms in terms of equity interest appear to have a visible and significant effect on
dividend payout of firms, on the other hand, the financial leverage have a very significant negative
impact on firms corporate dividend payout policies.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), HF5601 Accounting