MANAGEMENT’S PERCEPTION OF STOCK DIVIDEND DISTRIBUTION IN AN EMERGING CAPITAL MARKET: THE CASE OF KUWAIT

The purpose of this study is to investigate perceptions of top managers of Kuwaiti companies regarding factors the affect their companies’ decision to distribute stock dividend ( SD ). A questionnaire listing 32 reasons that could explain companies’ decisions to declare SDs was distributed to a sample of 120 randomly selected top managers from 100 Kuwaiti companies and 73 responses were received (representing a 61% response rate ). Participants were classified according to: ( 1 )business sector ( investment, real estate, banking, service, and industrial ) and ( 2 ) size of SDs ( small ( less than 25% ) and large ( 25% or more )). Nonparametric statistical tests were employed to analyze the data.Stock Dividends, Importance Ratings, Trading Liquidity, Institutional Investors