IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v46y2022ipas1544612321003342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When ESG meets AAA: The effect of ESG rating changes on stock returns

Author

Listed:
  • Shanaev, Savva
  • Ghimire, Binam

Abstract

This study is the first to employ calendar-time portfolio methodology to investigate the impact of 748 ESG rating changes on stock returns of US firms over 2016–2021. While ESG rating upgrades lead to positive yet inconsistently significant abnormal returns of 0.5% per month, downgrades are detrimental to stock performance, leading to statistically significant monthly risk-adjusted returns of -1.2% on average. These findings are more pronounced for ESG leaders than laggards and are robust to various asset-pricing model specifications. The effects of ESG rating levels are modest, with ESG laggards underperforming in risk-adjusted terms.

Suggested Citation

  • Shanaev, Savva & Ghimire, Binam, 2022. "When ESG meets AAA: The effect of ESG rating changes on stock returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:46:y:2022:i:pa:s1544612321003342
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2021.102302
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612321003342
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2021.102302?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell, Mark L & Stafford, Erik, 2000. "Managerial Decisions and Long-Term Stock Price Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(3), pages 287-329, July.
    2. Halbritter, Gerhard & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2015. "The wages of social responsibility — where are they? A critical review of ESG investing," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 25-35.
    3. Jaffe, Jeffrey F, 1974. "Special Information and Insider Trading," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(3), pages 410-428, July.
    4. Alda, Mercedes, 2020. "ESG fund scores in UK SRI and conventional pension funds: Are the ESG concerns of the SRI niche affecting the conventional mainstream?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    5. Holthausen, Robert W. & Leftwich, Richard W., 1986. "The effect of bond rating changes on common stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 57-89, September.
    6. Bradford Cornell, 2021. "ESG preferences, risk and return," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 27(1), pages 12-19, January.
    7. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    8. Demirtas, Gul & Simsir, Serif Aziz, 2016. "The effect of CEO departure on target firms’ post-takeover performance: Evidence from not-delisting target firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 55-65.
    9. Pornsit Jiraporn & Napatsorn Jiraporn & Adisak Boeprasert & Kiyoung Chang, 2014. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Improve Credit Ratings? Evidence from Geographic Identification," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 505-531, September.
    10. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    11. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    12. Wong, Woei Chyuan & Batten, Jonathan A. & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Mohamed-Arshad, Shamsul Bahrain & Nordin, Sabariah & Adzis, Azira Abdul, 2021. "Does ESG certification add firm value?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    13. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Jungwon Suh, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Credit Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(4), pages 679-694, November.
    14. Shanaev, Savva & Ghimire, Binam, 2019. "Is all politics local? Regional political risk in Russia and the panel of stock returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 70-82.
    15. Avramov, Doron & Chordia, Tarun & Jostova, Gergana & Philipov, Alexander, 2009. "Credit ratings and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 469-499, August.
    16. Clementino, Ester & Perkins, Richard, 2020. "How do companies respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Elisa Choy & Stephen Gray & Vanitha Ragunathan, 2006. "Effect of credit rating changes on Australian stock returns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(5), pages 755-769, December.
    18. Kiesel, Florian & Lücke, Felix, 2019. "ESG in credit ratings and the impact on financial markets," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 118849, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    19. Galema, Rients & Gerritsen, Dirk, 2019. "The effect of the accidental disclosure of confidential short sales positions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 87-94.
    20. Benjamin Hübel & Hendrik Scholz, 2020. "Integrating sustainability risks in asset management: the role of ESG exposures and ESG ratings," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(1), pages 52-69, February.
    21. Gerhard Halbritter & Gregor Dorfleitner, 2015. "The wages of social responsibility — where are they? A critical review of ESG investing," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 25-35, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Min & Guo, Tongji & Ping, Weiying & Luo, Liangqing, 2023. "Sustainability and stability: Will ESG investment reduce the return and volatility spillover effects across the Chinese financial market?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Amit Kumar Singh & Yifang Zhang & Anu, 2023. "Understanding the Evolution of Environment, Social and Governance Research: Novel Implications From Bibliometric and Network Analysis," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(2), pages 350-386, April.
    3. Ruiyu Dong & Chaofeng Shao & Shuqi Xin & Zhirui Lu, 2023. "A Sustainable Development Evaluation Framework for Chinese Electricity Enterprises Based on SDG and ESG Coupling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, June.
    4. Mu, Weiwei & Liu, Kefu & Tao, Yunqing & Ye, Yongwei, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Teti, Emanuele & Dallocchio, Maurizio & L'Erario, Giulio, 2023. "The impact of ESG tilting on the performance of stock portfolios in times of crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    6. Muneer Shaik & Mohd Ziaur Rehman, 2023. "The Dynamic Volatility Connectedness of Major Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Stock Indices: Evidence Based on DCC-GARCH Model," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 30(1), pages 231-246, March.
    7. Di Tommaso, Caterina & Mazzuca, Maria, 2023. "The stock price of European insurance companies: What is the role of ESG factors?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    8. Cauthorn, Thomas & Dumrose, Maurice & Eckert, Julia & Klein, Christian & Zwergel, Bernhard, 2023. "Rating changes revisited: New evidence on short-term ESG momentum," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Jorge Antunes & Peter Wanke & Thiago Fonseca & Yong Tan, 2023. "Do ESG Risk Scores Influence Financial Distress? Evidence from a Dynamic NDEA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-32, May.
    10. Wang, Linyu & Ji, Yifan & Ni, Zhongxin, 2023. "Spillover of stock price crash risk: Do environmental, social and governance (ESG) matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Rao, Amar & Dagar, Vishal & Sohag, Kazi & Dagher, Leila & Tanin, Tauhidul Islam, 2023. "Good for the planet, good for the wallet: The ESG impact on financial performance in India," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    12. López Prol, Javier & Kim, Kiwoong, 2022. "Risk-return performance of optimized ESG equity portfolios in the NYSE," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    13. Wang, Hu & Shen, Hong & Li, Shouwei, 2023. "ESG performance and stock price fragility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    14. Du, Linda Y.L. & Sun, Jianfei, 2023. "Washing away their stigma? The ESG of “Sin” firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    15. Zanin, Luca, 2023. "A flexible estimation of sectoral portfolio exposure to climate transition risks in the European stock market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monica Billio & Michele Costola & Iva Hristova & Carmelo Latino & Loriana Pelizzon, 2021. "Inside the ESG ratings: (Dis)agreement and performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1426-1445, September.
    2. Gerasimos G. Rompotis, 2023. "The Performance of ESG ETFs in the U.S," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 31(2), pages 89-101.
    3. Naffa, Helena & Fain, Máté, 2022. "A factor approach to the performance of ESG leaders and laggards," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    4. Thomas Cauthorn & Christian Klein & Leonard Remme & Bernhard Zwergel, 2023. "Portfolio benefits of taxonomy orientated and renewable European electric utilities," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(7), pages 558-571, December.
    5. Christina E. Bannier & Yannik Bofinger & Björn Rock, 2023. "The risk-return tradeoff: are sustainable investors compensated adequately?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 165-172, May.
    6. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Sattar A. Mansi & Oumar Sy, 2023. "Event studies in international finance research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(2), pages 344-364, March.
    7. Brav, Alon & Geczy, Christopher & Gompers, Paul A., 2000. "Is the abnormal return following equity issuances anomalous?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 209-249, May.
    8. Costanza Torricelli & Beatrice Bertelli, 2022. "ESG screening strategies and portfolio performance: how do they fare in periods of financial distress?," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0087, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    9. Yu, Haixu & Liang, Chuanyu & Liu, Zhaohua & Wang, He, 2023. "News-based ESG sentiment and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Lars Hornuf & Gül Yüksel, 2022. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Investments: A Meta-Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9724, CESifo.
    11. Jaspreet Kaur & Madhu Vij & Ajay Kumar Chauhan, 2023. "Signals influencing corporate credit ratings—a systematic literature review," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 50(1), pages 91-114, March.
    12. Tirunillai, S. & Tellis, G.J., 2011. "Does Online Chatter Really Matter? Dynamics of User-Generated Content and Stock Performance," ERIM Report Series Research in Management 25817, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    13. Chabowski, Brian & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan & Deng, Kailing & Sun, Li, 2019. "Environmental inefficiency and bond credit rating," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 17-37.
    14. Nicolau, Juan Luis & Sharma, Abhinav, 2022. "A review of research into drivers of firm value through event studies in tourism and hospitality: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research curated collection on drivers of firm value through event stu," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Seshadri Tirunillai & Gerard J. Tellis, 2012. "Does Chatter Really Matter? Dynamics of User-Generated Content and Stock Performance," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 198-215, March.
    16. Paolo Capelli & Federica Ielasi & Angeloantonio Russo, 2021. "Forecasting volatility by integrating financial risk with environmental, social, and governance risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1483-1495, September.
    17. Loureiro, Gilberto & Makhija, Anil K. & Zhang, Dan, 2020. "One dollar CEOs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 425-439.
    18. Ginevra Marandola & Rossella Mossucca, 2021. "When did the stock market start to react less to downgrades by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch?," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 1-45, February.
    19. Rashedul Hasan & Mohammad Dulal Miah & M. Kabir Hassan, 2022. "The nexus between environmental and financial performance: Evidence from gulf cooperative council banks," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2882-2907, November.
    20. Doron Avramov & Tarun Chordia & Gergana Jostova & Alexander Philipov, 2022. "The Distress Anomaly is Deeper than You Think: Evidence from Stocks and Bonds [The prediction of corporate bankruptcy: a discriminant analysis]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 355-405.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:46:y:2022:i:pa:s1544612321003342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.