Dividend Announcements and Contagion Effects: An Investigation on the Firms Listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange

Changes in dividend convey information about the earnings of the announcing firm which in turn affect the price. Security price depends on current earnings, past earnings, and future prospect of earnings. Dividend relevant theory postulates that dividend policy, dividend initiation and changes in dividend carry information about the market value of the announcing firms. Accordingly, an unexpected increase in dividends conveys positive information about the future profitability of the firm and vice versa. Firm’s management is better informed than the market about the future prospects of their firm and therefore, their action relating to any financing decision conveys information to the investors. The principal purpose of this study was to examine the intra-industry information effects of announcements of dividend initiations of the firms associated with Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). To test this hypothesis, we used Herfindahl Index and Tobin’s q ratio. The study found that the intra-industry effects of dividend revisions are apparent.