Author: Uwuigbe Olubukunola Ranti

Introduction. Firms’ decisions relating to dividend policy have been a subject of debate in the financial literatures. Series of theoretical models and explanations describing the factors that managers of organisations should consider when making dividend policy decisions have been developed by academics and researchers. Dividend policy, in the context of this study, relates to firm’s dividend payout policy that managers follow in deciding the pattern and size of cash distribution to shareholders over time.

Aim of the study. This study investigated the determinants of dividends policy in the Nigerian stock exchange market. To achieve the objectives of this study, a total of 50 listed firms in the Nigerian stock exchange market were selected and analyzed for the study using the judgmental sampling technique. Also, the corporate annual reports for the period 2006-2011 were used for the study. The paper was basically modeled to examine the effects of financial performance of firms, firm size, financial leverage and board independence on the dividend payout decisions of listed firms operating in the Nigerian stock exchange market using the regression analysis method. The study in its findings observed that there is a significant positive relationship between firms’ financial performance, size of firms and board independence on the dividend payouts decisions of listed firms in Nigeria.
Keywords: Nigeria; Dividend Payout; Financial Leverage; Financial Performance; Board Independence Annual Report