Ex-Dividend Day Stock Price Behavior: The Case of the 1986 Tax Reform Act*

This paper analyzes the behavior of stock prices around ex-dividend days after the implementation of the 1986 Tax Reform Act that dramatically reduced the difference between the tax treatment of realized long-term capital gains and dividend income in 1987 and completely eliminated the differential in 1988. We show that this tax change had no effect on the ex-dividend stock price behavior, which is consistent with the hypothesis that long-term individual investors have no significant effect on ex-day stock prices during this time period. The results indicate that the activity of short-term traders and corporate traders dominates the price determination on the ex-day.     

Why Do Stock Prices Drop by Less Than the Amount of the Dividend? Evidence from a Unique Environment

Abstract:

This paper investigates the effect of a lack of an automated limit order adjustment mechanism on ex-dividend day stock price behavior in a unique environment in which there are no taxes on dividends and capital gains. It finds that the overnight drop in the ask price is smaller than the overnight drop in the bid price. In addition, the study finds that average price drops are smaller than the dividend amount for all dividend sizes. I also find no evidence of a sawtooth-shaped relationship between the dividend amount and the ex-day price drop. These results are generally consistent with the lack of an automated limit order adjustment mechanism.     

Dividend Clienteles, the Tax-Clientele Hypothesis, and Utilities

Studies of ex-dividend day behavior have detected dividend-clientele effects. The ratio of the ex-day price drop to the dividend is typically less than unity and correlated with dividend yield. The tax-clientele hypothesis attributes these effects to personal taxation. This study shows that, when studied separately, neither utilities nor nonutilities exhibit the correlation between yield and ex-dividend day price drop predicted by the tax-clientele hypothesis. Only by combining utility and nonutility data are the traditional correlations observed. Results are consistent with some sort of dividend-clientele effect but are inconsistent with tax clienteles.     

The ex-dividend day stock price behavior in the Chinese stock market

This paper analyzes the ex-dividend day stock price behavior in the Chinese stock market. This market allows to examine the impact of tax effects while keeping any microstructure factors constant. The findings from non-taxable stocks show that their price, on the ex-dividend day, falls by an amount that is not statistically different from the dividend. For the taxable sample, stock prices of small dividend yield stocks fall proportionally to the dividend paid. For the large dividend yield stocks, the price adjustment depends on the effective tax rate on dividend income. The overall findings are consistent with the tax hypothesis.     

Do Tax Law Changes Influence Ex-Dividend Stock Price Behavior? Evidence from 1926 to 2005

We test the Elton and Gruber model of ex-dividend stock pricing over a period spanning all US tax law changes since 1926. Our results indicate that price drop ratios (ΔP/D) and ex-day returns are related to dividend and capital gains tax rates in the theorized manner. Consistent with tax clienteles, we also find that ex-day price movements of higher dividend yield stocks are driven more by corporate tax rates, while lower yield stocks are more influenced by personal rates. Finally, we demonstrate that the positive relationship between ΔP/D and the dividend yield becomes stronger as the tax differential | t_d− t_cg | widens.     

Limit Order Adjustment Mechanisms and Ex-Dividend Day Stock Price Behavior

Unlike the NYSE, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) does not adjust prices in the outstanding limit orders on ex-dividend days. We find that TSX ex-day stock price behavior differs from that on the NYSE in several key aspects. In each case, the TSX ex-day behavior is consistent with the lack of a limit order adjustment mechanism. Our findings confirm that market microstructure is an important factor that contributes to the observed Canadian ex-day price behavior. Our findings also resolve the puzzle of the relatively small ex-day price drop in Canada.     

Ex-dividend date stock behavior and the clientele effect: Evidence around a tax reduction

This study analyzes the behavior of stock prices around the ex-dividend date focusing on the effects of a major tax reduction. Using the 40 most heavily traded shares on the Santiago Stock Exchange, the study evaluates price drop ratios using various measures of ex-dividend day prices. The findings indicate that the dividend tax reduction has an effect on the price drop ratio; this result is consistent with the clientele effect hypothesis.     

Ex-dividend day trading: Who,how, and why? : Evidence from the Finnish market

This study examines the ex-dividend day trading behavior of all investors in the Finnish stock market. Consistent with dynamic dividend clientele theories, investors with a preference for dividend income buy shares cum-dividend and sell ex-dividend; the reverse is true for investors with the opposite preference. Investors also engage in overnight arbitrage, earning on average a 2% overnight return on their invested capital. Trades at the investor-level reveal that idiosyncratic risk is an important determinant in the choice of stock for short-term ex-day trading. Furthermore, transaction costs and dividend yield jointly determine whether the volume of short-term trading activity is nonzero.     

Taxes,International Clienteles and the Value of ADR Dividends

An alternative approach to valuing dividends is developed and applied to American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on Australian stocks. The values of ADR dividends are estimated from the period when, due to different ex‐dividend dates, the ADRs and their underlying stocks trade with differential dividend entitlements. Australian ADR dividends are valued at less than their face value and the dividends on the underlying stocks are valued at more than their face value. This suggests that ADR dividends are priced by a clientele of US investors placing little value on the imputation tax credits attached to the dividends and that a clientele of Australian resident investors, who obtain value from imputation tax credits, price the dividends on the underlying stock.     

An Examination of Ex-Dividend Day Stock Price Movements: The Case of Nontaxable Master Limited Partnership Distributions

This study examines the unit (stock) price and volume behavior of master limited partnerships (MLP) around the ex-dividend day. Since the dividends of MLPs are not taxable to the unitholder, tax based hypotheses predict no abnormal unit movements around the ex-day. Significant positive excess returns and volume are found before the ex-dividend day, and significant negative excess returns are found on the ex-dividend day. The findings which are not significantly impacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 suggest ex-day stock movements are not solely a function of investor marginal tax rates or corporate trading behavior.     

The impact of nominal stock price on ex-dividend price responses

In this paper, we examine whether nominal stock price can help to explain the ex-dividend day anomaly where stock prices drop by less than the dividend amount on the ex-dividend date. We find that stocks with lower nominal prices have ex-dividend day price drops that are more consistent with theoretical predictions based on an efficient market. After controlling for factors that have been previously documented to influence ex-dividend day stock price behavior, price-drop-to-dividend ratios are closer to one for lower priced stocks. To further explore this phenomenon, we examine the change in the price-drop-to-dividend ratio around stock splits. Firms that split their shares have a larger price-drop-to-dividend ratio after the split, and companies that reverse split their shares have a smaller price-drop-to-dividend ratio after the split. Our evidence indicates that ex-dividend day stock price behavior is influenced by the nominal price of a share and that this relation could also influence the decision to split a firm’s shares.     

Reduction of Constraints on Arbitrage Trading and Market Efficiency: An Examination of Ex-Day Returns in Hong Kong after Introduction of Electronic Settlement

Previous research documents positive ex-dividend day returns in excess of one percent in the unique institutional setting of Hong Kong, where neither dividends nor capital gains are taxed. Short-term arbitrage trades around the ex-day were hampered by physical settlement procedures. After the recent switch to an electronic settlement system, which enables such trades, ex-day abnormal returns have declined to an insignificant 0.17 percent. This drop is more pronounced for high-yield stocks, which are more likely to attract dividend capture trading. The evidence points to the crucial role of short-term traders in ensuring the pricing efficiency of financial markets.     

税负效应与除息日股票价格行为研究——来自A股市场的实证证据

本文基于我国A股市场相关数据对除息日股价行为的税负效应进行全面检验,实证结果表明股息和资本利得税率对除息日股价波动行为具有显著影响,税负效应理论存在于A股市场,但除息日股价波动行为不能完全由税负效应进行解释,另外实证研究还发现我国A股市场不存在税收诱导客户效应。     

The Ex-Dividend Day Behavior of Stock Prices: A Re-Examination of the Clientele Effect

Past studies have documented an ex-dividend day price drop which is less than the dividend per share and positively correlated with the corresponding dividend yield. In contrast to prior work, we show that, without additional information, the marginal tax rates cannot be inferred from this phenomenon which is, therefore, not necessarily the result of a tax induced clientele effect. Despite adjustments for potential biases in earlier work, however, the correlation between the ex-dividend relative price drop and the dividend yield is still positive which is consistent with a tax effect and a tax induced clientele effect.     

Ex-dividend returns: The Mexican puzzle

We study ex-dividend returns in Mexico, where an imputation system entitles individual investors to a net dividend tax credit. Based on taxation, we expect ex-day abnormal returns to be negative or at most zero in Mexico. However, they are significantly positive. Because ex-day returns are positive even for stocks restricted to Mexican nationals, they are not attributable to foreign stockholders’ tax considerations. None of the market microstructure-based hypothesis in the literature can explain these positive ex-day returns. Ex-day returns in Mexico are a puzzle.     

Time Variation of Ex-Dividend Day Stock Returns and Corporate Dividend Capture: A Reexamination

This paper documents some empirical facts about ex-day abnormal returns to high dividend yield stocks that are potentially subject to corporate dividend capture. We find that average abnormal ex-dividend day returns are uniformly negative in each year after the introduction of negotiated commission rates and that time variation in ex-day returns during the negotiated commission rates era is consistent with corporate tax-based dividend capture. Ex-day returns are more negative when the tax advantage to corporate dividend capture is greatest and more positive when increases in transaction costs and risk reduce incentives to engage in corporate tax-based dividend capture.     

Are ex‐day dividend clientele effects dead? Dividend yield versus dividend size

We devise an approach to determine whether market microstructure or taxes influence ex-dividend behavior. We find that microstructure effects of automated limit order adjustments strongly influence ex-day prices for dividends less than or equal to a tick. For these dividends, after controlling for dividend size, we find no relation between price-drop-to-dividend ratio and dividend yield. For larger dividends, both microstructure and tax effects are found: Consistent with the microstructure story we find that between ticks, as dividend sizes increase (hence dividend yields increase), price-drop-to-dividend ratios decrease. However, consistent with the tax clientele hypothesis, when dividend size is fixed, a positive relation between price-drop-to-dividend ratio and yield is still seen.     

FURTHER EVIDENCE ON DIVIDEND YIELDS AND THE EX-DIVIDEND DAY STOCK PRICE EFFECT

Ex-dividend day stock price behavior supports a tax clientele effect. This effect is still found after the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Results reflect an effective tax advantage for capital gains taxes payable at realization, versus dividend taxes due quarterly. Evidence also supports short-term trader participation in the ex-day phenomenon when the difference between dividend income and the ex-dividend-day price decrease exceeds transactions costs to trade. Results contradict prior research where a tax clientele effect is not found, but align with this prior research when including a small number of contaminated observations.     

The price impact of the disposition effect on the ex-dividend day of NYSE and AMEX common stocks

We empirically test whether the disposition effect has an asymmetrical impact on the price adjustment on the ex-dividend day of common stocks listed in NYSE and AMEX during the 2001–2008 period. We find that stocks with accrued gains have a greater ex-day price drop ratio (PDR) than stocks with accrued losses. We also find a positive relationship between the PDR and the capital gains overhang that has significant explanatory power over the cross-sectional variability of the PDR. Moreover, the capital gains overhang seems to explain part of the time variation of the PDR for a particular stock that can be a winner or loser at different times. We attribute our results to the disposition effect because active (limited) selling by holders of winning (losing) stocks will most likely accelerate (restrain) the downward price adjustment on the ex-dividend day.     

Taxes and dividends: The UK evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on the simultaneous effects of both corporation and personal income taxes on dividend payment adjustments and on the behaviour of share prices on the ex-dividend dates. The results show that companies set their dividend policies to minimise their tax liability and to maximise the after-tax return of their shareholders. In particular, firms that are unable to deduct the advanced corporation tax from their tax liability are found to pay low dividends. In addition, consistent with the tax hypothesis, we find that the differential taxation of dividends and capital gains results in a decrease in ex-day share prices by significantly less than the amount of the dividend. There is no evidence of a tax-induced dividend clientele.