The distribution of net profit is one of the basic problems of the financial strategy of companies. The amount of retained earnings affects the level of investment and the pace of their development, whereas the level of dividends translates into stock prices. Therefore, it is assumed that maintaining the right proportions in the distribution of net profit into the retained part and the part transferred to the shareholders will translate into the company’s value. The first part of the paper contains theoretical considerations on macroeconomic, microeconomic and the capital market determinants influencing companies’ distribution of net profit. A large group of microeconomic factors – long-term trends in changes of net profit, shareholder structure, the company’s life cycle and its investment opportunities – as well as a selection of financing sources facilitating the attainment of the optimal capital structure are discussed. The most important macroeconomic factors include the economic situation, the level of inflation, sector specifics and the situation on the stock market. The authors present the results of empirical research in which they assume that the dividend yield of companies from the oil and gas sector influences the value of the company depending on the level of investments shaping the book value of shares, and that the dividend yield affects the duration of the return on capital expressed as the price to net profit ratio, and thus the level of company risk. The calculated Pearson linear correlation coefficients show an insignificant influence of the dividend yield on the value of companies from the oil and gas sector. This value is determined by a number of other factors. The study is based on statistical data for 2010–2020 derived from Warsaw Stock Exchange Yearbooks.