Stock price reaction to cash dividend announcement: evidence from Saudi Arabian stock exchange

Abstract EN

The paper is aimed to investigate the cash dividend announcement impact on stock prices of companies listed on the Saudi stock exchange during 2011– 2019.

The full sample examined is consists of 199 cash dividend announcements from 30 companies.

An event study methodology is used to find if the cash dividend events have a significant impact on stock prices, 10 days before and after the announcement dates.

The study shows a significant reaction in stock prices around the event date.

In particular, cash dividend announcements have a significant positive effect on stock prices one day after the announcement; this is consistent with the information content theory.

The presence of earlier and delayed significant abnormal returns indicates that stock prices do not reflect the publicly available information instantly and accurately, therefore the Saudi Stock Exchange is not consistent with the semi-strong form efficiency hypothesis.