Dividend announcement effect analysis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indonesia Stock Exchange

Abstract

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic has become a challenge for the global society, including the investors in the capital market, due to the uncertainty it has caused. In relation to the phenomenon, this research aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the dividend announcement effect in Indonesia Stock Exchange by comparing the market volatility around the dividend announcement date of the selected stocks in 2019 and 2020. Implication of dividend increase and decrease as well as stock-risk profiling is also added for further learning. This research used event study methodology as a tool to analyze the data of the 23 sample companies taken from the LQ45 index. The period of analysis is ranged from 10 days before the dividend announcement to 10 days after the dividend announcement date. The study discovered that in 2019, the capital market presented a weak response toward the event, indicated by the inexistence of abnormal return. Moreover, in 2020, the dividend announcement effect caused negative insignificant abnormal returns and the number of companies with low volatility increased, which implies that the stock market is more pessimistic during the pandemic period. Even when the dividend amount increased from the previous period, the market still shows a negative reaction to it in 2020.