IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v71y2021ics092911992100225x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fictitious dividend cuts in the CRSP data

Author

Listed:
  • Alderson, Michael J.
  • Betker, Brian L.
  • Halford, Joseph T.

Abstract

We compare CRSP dividend data to data from firms' financial statements in the SEC's EDGAR database. Data screens typically used in the extant literature produce a sample in which about half of the apparent reductions in dividends per share are not actually dividend cuts. Many of the fictitious cuts are due to CRSP misclassifying special dividends as regular dividends. We demonstrate that the fictitious cuts can affect point estimates and inferences in studies of the information content of dividends. We provide a simple filter that eliminates most of the fictitious cuts in our sample – remove dividend cuts from the sample that are preceded by a dividend increase in the prior quarter. This filter produces empirical results that are similar to our sample of true cuts.

Suggested Citation

  • Alderson, Michael J. & Betker, Brian L. & Halford, Joseph T., 2021. "Fictitious dividend cuts in the CRSP data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:71:y:2021:i:c:s092911992100225x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092911992100225X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malcolm Baker & Brock Mendel & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2016. "Dividends as Reference Points: A Behavioral Signaling Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 697-738.
    2. Penman, Stephen H, 1983. "The Predictive Content of Earnings Forecasts and Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1181-1199, September.
    3. Gonedes, Nj, 1978. "Corporate Signaling, External Accounting, And Capital-Market Equilibrium - Evidence On Dividends, Income, And Extraordinary Items," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 26-79.
    4. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 2000. "Forecasting Profitability and Earnings," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(2), pages 161-175, April.
    5. Lie, Erik, 2005. "Operating performance following dividend decreases and omissions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 27-53, December.
    6. Doron Nissim & Amir Ziv, 2001. "Dividend Changes and Future Profitability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2111-2133, December.
    7. Pettit, R Richardson, 1972. "Dividend Announcements, Security Performance, and Capital Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(5), pages 993-1007, December.
    8. Yelena Larkin & Mark T. Leary & Roni Michaely, 2017. "Do Investors Value Dividend-Smoothing Stocks Differently?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(12), pages 4114-4136, December.
    9. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    10. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely & Shlomo Benartzi & Richard H. Thaler, 2005. "Dividend Changes Do Not Signal Changes in Future Profitability," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(5), pages 1659-1682, September.
    11. Aharony, Joseph & Dotan, Amihud, 1994. "Regular Dividend Announcements and Future Unexpected Earnings: An Empirical Analysis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 29(1), pages 125-151, February.
    12. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 1996. "Reversal of fortune Dividend signaling and the disappearance of sustained earnings growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 341-371, March.
    13. Ofer, Aharon R & Siegel, Daniel R, 1987. "Corporate Financial Policy, Information, and Market Expectations: An Empirical Investigation of Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(4), pages 889-911, September.
    14. Ball, R & Brown, P, 1968. "Empirical Evaluation Of Accounting Income Numbers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 159-178.
    15. Brickley, James A., 1983. "Shareholder wealth, information signaling and the specially designated dividend : An empirical study," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 187-209, August.
    16. Ham, Charles G. & Kaplan, Zachary R. & Leary, Mark T., 2020. "Do dividends convey information about future earnings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(2), pages 547-570.
    17. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    18. Mark T. Leary & Roni Michaely, 2011. "Determinants of Dividend Smoothing: Empirical Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(10), pages 3197-3249.
    19. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    20. Watts, Ross, 1973. "The Information Content of Dividends," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 191-211, April.
    21. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    22. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2002. "Are Dividend Changes a Sign of Firm Maturity?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 387-424, July.
    23. Benartzi, Shlomo & Michaely, Roni & Thaler, Richard H, 1997. "Do Changes in Dividends Signal the Future or the Past?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1007-1034, July.
    24. Asquith, Paul & Mullins, David W, Jr, 1983. "The Impact of Initiating Dividend Payments on Shareholders' Wealth," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(1), pages 77-96, January.
    25. Dielman, Terry E. & Oppenheimer, Henry R., 1984. "An Examination of Investor Behavior during Periods of Large Dividend Changes," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 197-216, June.
    26. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Tian, Xuan, 2014. "Communicating Private Information to the Equity Market Before a Dividend Cut: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(5-6), pages 1167-1199, December.
    27. Denis, David J. & Denis, Diane K. & Sarin, Atulya, 1994. "The Information Content of Dividend Changes: Cash Flow Signaling, Overinvestment, and Dividend Clienteles," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 567-587, December.
    28. Yoon, Pyung Sig & Starks, Laura T, 1995. "Signaling, Investment Opportunities, and Dividend Announcements," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(4), pages 995-1018.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ham, Charles G. & Kaplan, Zachary R. & Leary, Mark T., 2020. "Do dividends convey information about future earnings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(2), pages 547-570.
    2. Wei Hao & Udomsak Wongchoti & Martin Young & Jianguo Chen, 2021. "R2 and the corporate signaling effect," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 1353-1381, December.
    3. Dempsey, Stephen J. & Sheng, Hainan, 2023. "Dividend change announcements, ROE, and the cost of equity capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Blau, Benjamin M. & Fuller, Kathleen P., 2008. "Flexibility and dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 133-152, April.
    5. Roni Michaely & Stefano Rossi & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2017. "The Information Content of Dividends: Safer Profits, Not Higher Profits," CESifo Working Paper Series 6751, CESifo.
    6. Frankfurter, George M. & Wood, Bob Jr., 2002. "Dividend policy theories and their empirical tests," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 111-138.
    7. H.Kent Baker & Gary E. Powell & E.Theodore Veit, 2002. "Revisiting the dividend puzzle," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 241-261.
    8. Lee, Bong Soo & Mauck, Nathan, 2016. "Dividend initiations, increases and idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 47-60.
    9. Chin-Sheng Huang & Chun-Fan You & Hsiao-Fen Hsiao, 2017. "Dividends and Subsequent Profitability: An Examination of a Dual Dividend Stock Market," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 1-35, March.
    10. Liu, Chinpiao & Chen, An-Sing, 2015. "Do firms use dividend changes to signal future profitability? A simultaneous equation analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 194-207.
    11. Małgorzata Snarska & Tomasz K. Wisniewski & Andrzej Zygula, 2020. "Are Emerging Markets Efficient? Evidence from Informational Content of Dividend Changes in Polish Stock Market," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 687-717.
    12. Carlos Martins, 2007. "Consistency of Dividend Signalling and Future Maturity Level:Evidence from UK Data," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 40, Departamento de Economia, Gestão e Engenharia Industrial, Universidade de Aveiro.
    13. Xin Che & Kathleen P. Fuller, 2020. "What does the timing of dividend reductions signal?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1035-1061, October.
    14. Baker, H. Kent & Powell, Gary E. & Veit, E. Theodore, 2002. "Revisiting the dividend puzzle: Do all of the pieces now fit?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 241-261.
    15. Ashiq Ali & Oktay Urcan, 2012. "Dividend increases and future earnings," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 12-25.
    16. Tsai, Hui-Ju & Wu, Yangru, 2015. "Bond and stock market response to unexpected dividend changes," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-15.
    17. Ben Howatt & Richard Zuber & John Gandar & Reinhold Lamb, 2009. "Dividends, earnings volatility and information," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(7), pages 551-562.
    18. Jensen, Gerald R. & Lundstrum, Leonard L. & Miller, Robert E., 2010. "What do dividend reductions signal?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 736-747, December.
    19. Fairchild, Richard & Guney, Yilmaz & Thanatawee, Yordying, 2014. "Corporate dividend policy in Thailand: Theory and evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 129-151.
    20. Sadaf Anwar & Shveta Singh & P. K. Jain, 2017. "Impact of Cash Dividend Announcements: Evidence from the Indian Manufacturing Companies," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 16(1), pages 29-60, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Payout policy; Dividend cuts;

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:71:y:2021:i:c:s092911992100225x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.