What Do Insiders Know? Evidence from Insider Trading Around Share Repurchases and SEOs

Cziraki, Peter; Lyandres, Evgeny; Michaely, Roni

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2732969

What Do Insiders Know? Evidence from Insider Trading Around Share Repurchases and SEOs

Journal of Corporate Finance, Forthcoming

27th Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting Paper

Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 19-11

62 Pages Posted: 16 Feb 2016 Last revised: 8 Nov 2019

See all articles by Peter Cziraki

Peter Cziraki

University of Toronto - Department of Economics; Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC)

Roni Michaely

University of Geneva - Geneva Finance Research Institute (GFRI); Swiss Finance Institute

Date Written: October 9, 2019

Abstract

We examine the nature of information contained in insider trades prior to corporate events. Insiders’ net buying increases before open market share repurchase announcements and decreases before seasoned equity offers. Higher insider net buying is associated with better post-event operating performance, a reduction in undervaluation, and, for repurchases, lower post-event cost of capital. Insider trading also predicts announcement returns and long-term stock price drift following events. Overall, our results suggest that insider trades before corporate events contain information about changes both in fundamentals and in investor sentiment.

Keywords: Insider Trading, Repurchases, Seasoned Equity Offers, Market Efficiency

JEL Classification: G14, G30, G32, G35

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cziraki, Peter and Lyandres, Evgeny and Michaely, Roni, What Do Insiders Know? Evidence from Insider Trading Around Share Repurchases and SEOs (October 9, 2019). Journal of Corporate Finance, Forthcoming; 27th Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting Paper; Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 19-11. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2732969 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2732969