Ownership Structure and Dividend Strategy of Public Companies. Evidence from Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to verify a hypothesis of the ownership structure influencing the dividend strategy of companies listed at both main stock and alternative markets of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In order to evaluate the hypothesis, dynamic panel Lintner’s partial adjustment models with individual random effects have been estimated by means of instrument variables method, separately for each of the five company groups specified due to their ownership structure. Each one has systematically paid out dividends in the years 2012-2016. The results confirm that the dividend strategies of companies significantly depend on their ownership structure. Companies controlled by strategic investors had the highest dividend payout ratio, whereas the ones controlled by institutional investors — the lowest.