Dividend Policy of Public and Private Companies

Dividend policy is one of the most relevant issues in the field of financial management of the company. This paper investigates the impact of different factors (financial indicators, characteristics of the board of directors, internal parameters of the company) on its dividend policy and the difference of this impact is determined for companies with state participation and without it. The study is based on a sample of 120 Russian companies for the period 2012-2016. In the course of the empirical study, a multifactor regression model was used on panel data. The results showed that the dividend payout ratio of Russian companies without state participation is significantly dependent on profitability, debt burden, the share of independent directors, buyback of own shares, the maturity of the company and industry. For companies with state participation, the following factors are significant: the size of the company, the debt burden, the size of the board of directors, the share of women on the board of directors, industry. The study confirmed the difference in factors affecting companies from two groups. The result of the work confirmed the need to study the influence of state participation on dividend policy.