Determinant of dividend payout ratio: Evidence from public listed companies in Malaysia

This dissertation examines the determinants of dividend payout ratio of 139 public listed companies in Malaysia over the period 2001 to 2014. Data are collected from DataStream database and analysed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). Dividend payout ratio is measured by dividend value divided by total asset, while the determinant variables are size, profitability, cash flow, sales growth, leverage ratio and historical growth. The findings demonstrate that size, profitability, leverage ratio and historical growth influence the dividend payout ratio of Malaysian public listed companies in the period studied. Size negatively influence dividend payout ratio, profitability positively influence dividend payout ratio, leverage ratio has a positive relationship with the dividend payout ratio and lastly historical growth negatively determine dividend payout ratio. This implies that in Malaysia, bigger size companies pays less dividend, more profitable companies pay more dividend, higher leverage companies pay more dividend and finally, lower growth companies pay higher dividend