How do dynamic financing decisions explain the behavior of dividend payout policies? An empirical study of listed Pakistani manufacturing firms

The study investigates the factors that influence dividend payout policy in public Pakistani manu- facturing companies throughout the timeframe 2010-20. Pooled OLS technique was used for regression purposes, as the majority of companies do not pay a dividend at all or do not do so regularly so all these firms were excluded from the final dataset. The study discovers that divi- dend payout in listed Pakistani manufacturing firms is significantly affected by ratio of short- debt, ratio of long-debt, ratio of total-debt, life cycle ratio and cash ratio. Similarly, short term debt ratio, ratio of long-debt and life cycle ratio, increase the dividend payout while cash ratio decreases the dividend distribution ratio for publically traded Pakistani manufacturing compa- nies. The policymakers/financial advisors and decision-makers in listed Pakistani manufacturing firms should take into consideration factors such as debt financing, life cycle ratio, and cash ratio in making their dividend policies.