Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Dividend Clienteles Around the World: Evidence from Institutional Holdings

2010; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.1447573

1556-5068

Miguel A. Ferreira, Massimo Massa, Pedro Matos,

Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance

We examine the relation between international institutional ownership and payout policy using a comprehensive data set of equity holdings from 37 countries over the years 2000-2007. We find that foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with the likelihood that a firm pays dividends and the size of dividend payments. The greater the tax disadvantage of dividends to international investors, and the higher are transaction costs related to repatriating and reinvesting dividends, the more international investors push for fewer dividends. The results support the existence of dividend clienteles around the world. Finally, we find that firms that comply with foreign institutional shareholders preference for lower payouts are able to retain and invest more of their earnings.