Institutional ownership around stock splits

Fengyu Li; Mark H. Liu; Yongdong (Eric) Shi

doi:10.1016/j.pacfin.2017.06.011

Institutional ownership around stock splits

Fengyu Li, Mark H. Liu, Yongdong (Eric) Shi

Finance and Quantitative Methods

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies on the underlying reasons for stock splits can be broadly categorized into two groups: those argue that firms use stock splits to signal favorable private information to the market and those argue that stock splits are used to improve liquidity. We shed light on this issue by examining the change in institutional holdings around stock splits and find that institutional investors, especially short-term investors, increase their holding of the splitting firm's stock. The change in short-term institutional ownership is positively related to the improvement in firm's information environment, especially for less liquid stocks and stocks that are not widely held by institutional investors. Our evidence supports the liquidity hypothesis instead of the signaling hypothesis of stock splits.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	14-40
Number of pages	27
Journal	Pacific Basin Finance Journal
Volume	46
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2017.06.011
State	Published - Dec 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Funding

We thank Alice Bonaime, Tom Chemmanur, Paul Childs, Chris Clifford, Kristine Hankins, Hui He, Brad Jordan, Susan Jordan, Dong Lee, Don Mullineaux, and seminar participants at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics and University of Kentucky for helpful comments. We appreciate the financial support of the Fundamental Research Funds for the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos. 71471031 , 71171036 ], the major project of the National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 14AZD089 ], Distinguished Professor Support Plan of Liaoning Province [Grant No. [2013] 204 ], the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China [Grant No. 15YJA790092 ; 15YJC790041 ], Social Science Planning Key Project of Liaoning Province [Grant No. L15AGL003 ], the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of Department of Education of Liaoning Province [Grant No. LN2016JD008 , ZJ2013043 ], Youth Scientific Research Personnel Training Project of Dongbei University of Finance & Economics [Grant No. DUFE2015Q08 ]. All errors and omissions are our own.

Funders	Funder number
Distinguished Professor Support Plan of Liaoning Province	[2013] 204
Humanity and Social Science Foundation of Department of Education of Liaoning Province	LN2016JD008, ZJ2013043
Social Science Planning Key Project of Liaoning Province	L15AGL003
Youth Scientific Research Personnel Training Project of Dongbei University of Finance & Economics	DUFE2015Q08
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)	71471031, 71171036
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences	14AZD089
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Foundation, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China	15YJA790092, 15YJC790041
Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Foundation, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

Keywords

Idiosyncratic volatility
Institutional investors
Liquidity
Price informativeness
Stock splits

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Finance
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.pacfin.2017.06.011

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title = "Institutional ownership around stock splits",

abstract = "Studies on the underlying reasons for stock splits can be broadly categorized into two groups: those argue that firms use stock splits to signal favorable private information to the market and those argue that stock splits are used to improve liquidity. We shed light on this issue by examining the change in institutional holdings around stock splits and find that institutional investors, especially short-term investors, increase their holding of the splitting firm's stock. The change in short-term institutional ownership is positively related to the improvement in firm's information environment, especially for less liquid stocks and stocks that are not widely held by institutional investors. Our evidence supports the liquidity hypothesis instead of the signaling hypothesis of stock splits.",

keywords = "Idiosyncratic volatility, Institutional investors, Liquidity, Price informativeness, Stock splits",

author = "Fengyu Li and Liu, \{Mark H.\} and Shi, \{Yongdong (Eric)\}",

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year = "2017",

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doi = "10.1016/j.pacfin.2017.06.011",

language = "English",

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AU - Liu, Mark H.

AU - Shi, Yongdong (Eric)

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AB - Studies on the underlying reasons for stock splits can be broadly categorized into two groups: those argue that firms use stock splits to signal favorable private information to the market and those argue that stock splits are used to improve liquidity. We shed light on this issue by examining the change in institutional holdings around stock splits and find that institutional investors, especially short-term investors, increase their holding of the splitting firm's stock. The change in short-term institutional ownership is positively related to the improvement in firm's information environment, especially for less liquid stocks and stocks that are not widely held by institutional investors. Our evidence supports the liquidity hypothesis instead of the signaling hypothesis of stock splits.

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KW - Liquidity

KW - Price informativeness

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Institutional ownership around stock splits

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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