The Dividend Policy Effect on Shareholder Wealth: An Empirical Assessment of Nigerian Listed Insurance Firms

ABSTRACT: This study examines the empirical influence of dividend policy over shareholder wealth within the context of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. The ex post facto research design was adopted making it possible for secondary data to be gathered from the audited annual financial statements of ten purposively selected insurance firms over a ten year duration (2016-2025). Shareholder wealth was operationalized using the earnings per share while dividend policy relied on these three key metrics:total payout ratio, dividend coverage ratio and dividend yield ratio. The data was meticulously analyzed via the descriptive statistics and panel least regression model. The study discovered that two out of the metrics of dividend policy (dividend coverage ratio and dividend yield ratio) significantly had positive effect on shareholder wealth. Whereas total payout ratio had a significant negative impact on earnings per share. Based on these results, the study recommends amongst others that insurance firms should avoid excessively high dividend payouts but rather prioritise a stable balanced payout policy. Again, management should focus on strengthening dividend coverage by enhancing profitability and building sufficient retained earnings. Keywords: Dividend Policy, Shareholder Wealth, Dividend Coverage