Institutional Herding

51 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2002

See all articles by Richard W. Sias

Richard W. Sias

University of Arizona - Department of Finance

Date Written: February 24, 2002

Abstract

Institutional investors' demand for a security this quarter is positively correlated with their demand for the security last quarter. These results are attributed to institutional investors following each other into and out of the same securities ("herding")and institutional investors following their own lag trades. Consistent with previous work, we find institutional investors are "momentum" traders. Little of their herding, however, results from momentum trading. Moreover, institutional demand is more strongly related to lag institutional demand than lag returns. Institutional herding declines over time and differs across capitalizations and investor types. Our results are most consistent with the hypothesis that institutional investors herd as a result of inferring information from each other's trades.

Suggested Citation

Sias, Richard W., Institutional Herding (February 24, 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=307440 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.307440

Richard W. Sias (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - Department of Finance ( email )

McClelland Hall
P.O. Box 210108
Tucson, AZ 85721-0108
United States