The Effect of Institutional Investors on Dividend Payout

The dividend payout policy is one of the most important issues for managers and stakeholders. The manager should propose to General Shareholders Assembly the amount of the earnings to be distributed and how much to invest in retained earnings. Although dividend payout directly benefits shareholders, it affects a firm's ability to accumulate earnings to take advantage of growth opportunities. The dividend payout policy is also one of the factors that may affect the firm's ownership structure. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of institutional ownership on dividend payout policy. Using the systematic elimination method, a sample of 105 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2016 is selected. Moreover, multiple regression analysis with panel data is used to test the research hypotheses. This study's findings show that increasing the ownership of mutual funds and other institutional shareholders increase dividend.