IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finmar/v65y2023ics1386418123000307.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Daily short selling around reverse stock splits

Author

Listed:
  • Blau, Benjamin M.
  • Cox, Justin S.
  • Griffith, Todd G.
  • Voges, Ryan

Abstract

We examine prices and daily short selling activity around reverse stock splits using a difference-in-difference identification strategy. The results show negative returns for treatment stocks, relative to control stocks, around reverse splits. Additionally, short selling increases for treatment stocks vis-à-vis control stocks in the days after the reverse split announcements, but not before. Moreover, short selling on reverse split announcement and effective dates does not appear to contain more information about future negative returns than usual. Together, the results indicate that reverse stock splits attract short sellers’ attention, but that they are no more informed around these events than normal.

Suggested Citation

  • Blau, Benjamin M. & Cox, Justin S. & Griffith, Todd G. & Voges, Ryan, 2023. "Daily short selling around reverse stock splits," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finmar:v:65:y:2023:i:c:s1386418123000307
    DOI: 10.1016/j.finmar.2023.100832
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386418123000307
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.finmar.2023.100832?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. Karl B. Diether & Kuan-Hui Lee & Ingrid M. Werner, 2009. "Short-Sale Strategies and Return Predictability," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 575-607, February.
    2. Kwan, Amy & Masulis, Ronald & McInish, Thomas H., 2015. "Trading rules, competition for order flow and market fragmentation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 330-348.
    3. Blau, Benjamin M. & Fuller, Kathleen P. & Van Ness, Robert A., 2011. "Short selling around dividend announcements and ex-dividend days," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 628-639, June.
    4. Padma Kadiyala & Michael Vetsuypens, 2002. "Are Stock Spilts Credible Signals? Evidence from Short Interest Data," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(1), Spring.
    5. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    6. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    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. Chung, Kee H. & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "A simple approximation of intraday spreads using daily data," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 94-120.
    9. Jennifer L. Koski, 2007. "Does Volatility Decrease After Reverse Stock Splits?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 217-235, June.
    10. David R. Peterson & Pamela P. Peterson, 1992. "A Further Understanding Of Stock Distributions: The Case Of Reverse Stock Splits," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 15(3), pages 189-205, September.
    11. Lauren Cohen & Karl B. Diether & Christopher J. Malloy, 2007. "Supply and Demand Shifts in the Shorting Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2061-2096, October.
    12. Kee H. Chung & Sean Yang, 2015. "Reverse Stock Splits, Institutional Holdings, and Share Value," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 177-216, March.
    13. Michael J. Aitken & Alex Frino & Michael S. McCorry & Peter L. Swan, 1998. "Short Sales Are Almost Instantaneously Bad News: Evidence from the Australian Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 2205-2223, December.
    14. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2013. "Shackling Short Sellers: The 2008 Shorting Ban," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1363-1400.
    15. Anshuman, V. Ravi & Kalay, Avner, 2002. "Can splits create market liquidity? Theory and evidence," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 83-125, January.
    16. Senchack, A. J. & Starks, Laura T., 1993. "Short-Sale Restrictions and Market Reaction to Short-Interest Announcements," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 177-194, June.
    17. Claire Crutchley & Steven Swidler, 2015. "Multiple reverse stock splits (investors beware!)," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(2), pages 357-369, April.
    18. Christophe, Stephen E. & Ferri, Michael G. & Hsieh, Jim, 2010. "Informed trading before analyst downgrades: Evidence from short sellers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 85-106, January.
    19. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "The Limits of Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, March.
    20. Fama, Eugene F, 1991. "Efficient Capital Markets: II," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1575-1617, December.
    21. Alexander Ljungqvist & Wenlan Qian, 2016. "How Constraining Are Limits to Arbitrage?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(8), pages 1975-2028.
    22. Harrison Hong & Weikai Li & Sophie X. Ni & Jose A. Scheinkman & Philip Yan, 2015. "Days to Cover and Stock Returns," NBER Working Papers 21166, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Han, Ki C., 1995. "The Effects of Reverse Splits on the Liquidity of the Stock," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 159-169, March.
    24. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    25. Jones, Charles M. & Lamont, Owen A., 2002. "Short-sale constraints and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 207-239.
    26. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    27. Asquith, Paul & Pathak, Parag A. & Ritter, Jay R., 2005. "Short interest, institutional ownership, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 243-276, November.
    28. Seoyoung Kim & April Klein & James Rosenfeld, 2008. "Return Performance Surrounding Reverse Stock Splits: Can Investors Profit?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 173-192, June.
    29. Jeffrey Pontiff, 1996. "Costly Arbitrage: Evidence from Closed-End Funds," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1135-1151.
    30. Sassan Alizadeh & Michael W. Brandt & Francis X. Diebold, 2002. "Range‐Based Estimation of Stochastic Volatility Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1047-1091, June.
    31. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    32. Stratmann, Thomas & Welborn, John W., 2016. "Informed short selling, fails-to-deliver, and abnormal returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 81-102.
    33. Lamoureux, Christopher G & Poon, Percy, 1987. "The Market Reaction to Stock Splits," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1347-1370, December.
    34. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2008. "Which Shorts Are Informed?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 491-527, April.
    35. Mazur, Mieszko & Dang, Man & Vega, Miguel, 2021. "COVID-19 and the march 2020 stock market crash. Evidence from S&P1500," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    36. McNichols, Maureen & Dravid, Ajay, 1990. "Stock Dividends, Stock Splits, and Signaling," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 857-879, July.
    37. Qing He & Junyi Liu & Sizhu Wang & Jishuang Yu, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on stock markets," Economic and Political Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 275-288, July.
    38. Chebbi, Kaouther & Ammer, Mohammed Abdullah & Hameed, Affan, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic and stock liquidity: Evidence from S&P 500," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 134-142.
    39. Don M. Autore & Thomas J. Boulton & Marcus V. Braga-Alves, 2015. "Failures to Deliver, Short Sale Constraints, and Stock Overvaluation," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 143-172, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    2. Paul A. Griffin & Hyun A. Hong & Jeong-Bon Kim, 2016. "Price discovery in the CDS market: the informational role of equity short interest," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1116-1148, December.
    3. Hanauer, Matthias X. & Lesnevski, Pavel & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "Surprise in short interest," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Stratmann, Thomas & Welborn, John W., 2016. "Informed short selling, fails-to-deliver, and abnormal returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 81-102.
    5. Massimo Massa & Bastian von Beschwitz, 2015. "Biased Shorts: Short sellers’ Disposition Effect and Limits to Arbitrage," International Finance Discussion Papers 1147, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Takahashi, Hidetomo, 2010. "Short-sale inflow and stock returns: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2403-2412, October.
    7. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, November.
    8. Boehmer, Ekkehart & Huszar, Zsuzsa R. & Jordan, Bradford D., 2010. "The good news in short interest," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 80-97, April.
    9. Kelley Bergsma & Jitendra Tayal, 2019. "Short Interest and Lottery Stocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 187-227, March.
    10. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "On the importance of fiscal space: Evidence from short sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. Au, Andrea S. & Doukas, John A. & Onayev, Zhan, 2009. "Daily short interest, idiosyncratic risk, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 290-316, May.
    12. Blau, Benjamin M. & Van Ness, Robert A. & Warr, Richard S., 2012. "Short selling of ADRs and foreign market short-sale constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 886-897.
    13. Wang, Xue & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling) & Zheng, Lingling, 2020. "Shorting flows, public disclosure, and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 191-212.
    14. Massa, Massimo & von Beschwitz, Bastian, 2015. "Biased Shorts: Stock Market Implications of Short Sellers? Disposition Effect," CEPR Discussion Papers 10535, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Charles M. Jones & Adam V. Reed & William Waller, 2016. "Revealing Shorts An Examination of Large Short Position Disclosures," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(12), pages 3278-3320.
    16. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.
    17. Melissa Porras Prado & Pedro A. C. Saffi & Jason Sturgess, 2016. "Ownership Structure, Limits to Arbitrage, and Stock Returns: Evidence from Equity Lending Markets," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(12), pages 3211-3244.
    18. Blau, Benjamin M. & Tew, Philip L., 2014. "Short sales and class-action lawsuits," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 79-100.
    19. Lynch, Andrew & Nikolic, Biljana & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling) & Yu, Han, 2014. "Aggregate short selling, commonality, and stock market returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 199-229.
    20. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short selling; Reverse stock splits; Market efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:finmar:v:65:y:2023:i:c:s1386418123000307. 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/finmar .

    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.