المستخلص: |
The opinions about the relative importance of different determinants of corporate dividend policies vary across both scholars and financial mangers. This study seeks to examine the effect of ownership structure and board of directors’ composition on dividend policies in Saudi Arabia, using pooled cross-sectional observations from the listed Saudi firms for three years between 2006 and 2008. It is found that there is a significant positive association between institutional ownership, board size, firm performance, and both dividend decision and payout ratio. The results confirm that firms with higher earnings per share and a higher institutional ownership distribute higher levels of dividend. No significant association was found between other board composition factors and dividend decisions or ratios.
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