THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE AND DIVIDEND PAYOUTS: AN EMPRICAL RESEARCH ON BORSA ISTANBUL INDUSTRIAL INDEX

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of ownership structure on dividend payouts, which is an indicator of dividend policy. In this study, the effect of foreign ownership, institutional ownership, ownership concentration and free float ratio on firms’ dividend policies was tried to be determined for this purpose. In the study, annual data of 123 firms for 2011-2018 period are used, which are traded on the Borsa Istanbul industrial index. In the empirical analysis t-test and correlation analysis and robust estimator were used. As a result of the developed models, negative and statistically significant relationship between dividend payouts and foreign ownership and institutional ownership. In contrast, a statistically insignificant relationship was determined between dividend yield and ownership concentration and free float ratio. However, the profitability, size and leverage ratio of the firms; affects dividend yield. Increasing the profitability and size of the firms increases the dividend payouts, while the increase in the leverage ratio decreases the dividend payouts.