What explains the change in a firm’s idiosyncratic volatility after a dividend initiation?
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify three (maturity, agency, and information) effects that help explain the change in idiosyncratic volatility after a firm initiates a dividend.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a cross-sectional analysis where the standard errors are adjusted for heteroskedasticity. As for robustness check, the authors perform two-stage analysis to control for potential self-selection bias. The authors also control for 2003 Dividend Tax Cut effect, matching-firm volatility, and confounding events.
Findings
Using a sample of 688 dividend-initiating firms for a period of 1977 to 2010, the authors find evidence consistent with the hypotheses based on the maturity, agency, and information effects. The volatility changes upon the dividend initiation can be reliably explained by the changes in profit volatility and free cash flow per total assets, and whether the firm consummated a stock split prior to the dividend initiation. The information effect is also found to be economically significant.
Originality/value
By studying a firm’s decision to initiate a dividend and its impact on the change in its volatility, the research helps contribute to the payout policy and volatility literatures.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
JEL Classification — G35, G12
The authors thank three anonymous reviewers and Editor (Don Johnson) for providing their valuable comments, which have markedly improved the paper. The authors graciously thank Robert Savickas for his valuable suggestions and comments. The authors also thank Haiwei Chen, Kevin Krieger (discussant), and seminar participants of the Midwest Finance Association ' s annual meeting 2012 and University of Texas-Pan American for their suggestions. Desai acknowledges the summer research support from the VCU School of Business. Ditina Desai contributed by proofreading the manuscript. The authors are solely responsible for errors and omissions.
Citation
Desai, C.A. and Nguyen, K.H. (2015), "What explains the change in a firm’s idiosyncratic volatility after a dividend initiation?", Managerial Finance, Vol. 41 No. 11, pp. 1138-1158. https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-03-2014-0066
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited