IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intfin/v20y2010i4p376-388.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Double signals or single signal? An investigation of insider trading around share repurchases

Author

Listed:
  • Firth, Michael
  • Leung, T.Y.
  • Rui, Oliver M.

Abstract

We examine directors' dealing activity around share repurchasing periods in Hong Kong. There are significant insider trading activities before the share repurchasing period. Consistent with the signaling hypothesis, the directors' purchase activities during the share repurchase period are significantly higher than the expected level while the directors' sale activities are significantly lower than the expected level. Double signals of share repurchase and directors' purchases create a stronger signal in conveying undervaluation, while insider sales around share repurchase reduces the undervaluation signal. We find some evidence that is consistent with the free cash flow and signaling arguments for share repurchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Firth, Michael & Leung, T.Y. & Rui, Oliver M., 2010. "Double signals or single signal? An investigation of insider trading around share repurchases," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 376-388, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intfin:v:20:y:2010:i:4:p:376-388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1042-4431(10)00033-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nandkumar Nayar & Ajai K. Singh & Allan A. Zebedee, 2008. "Share Repurchase Offers and Liquidity: An Examination of Temporary and Permanent Effects," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 251-270, June.
    2. Perfect, Steven B. & Peterson, David R. & Peterson, Pamela P., 1995. "Self-tender offers: The effects of free cash flow, cash flow signalling, and the measurement of Tobin's q," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1005-1023, September.
    3. Julia Sawicki & Keshab Shrestha, 2008. "Insider Trading and Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3-4), pages 331-346.
    4. Lakonishok, Josef & Vermaelen, Theo, 1990. "Anomalous Price Behavior around Repurchase Tender Offers," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 455-477, June.
    5. Clifford P. Stephens & Michael S. Weisbach, 1998. "Actual Share Reacquisitions in Open-Market Repurchase Programs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(1), pages 313-333, February.
    6. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely, 2002. "Dividends, Share Repurchases, and the Substitution Hypothesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1649-1684, August.
    7. Dann, Larry Y., 1981. "Common stock repurchases : An analysis of returns to bondholders and stockholders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 113-138, June.
    8. William Rees, 1996. "The impact of open market equity repurchases on UK equity prices," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 353-370.
    9. Michael J. Gombola & Hei Wai Lee & Feng‐Ying Liu, 1999. "Further Evidence on Insider Selling Prior to Seasoned Equity Offering Announcements: The Role of Growth Opportunities," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5‐6), pages 621-649, June.
    10. Meulbroek, Lisa K, 1992. "An Empirical Analysis of Illegal Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1661-1699, December.
    11. Alan Gregory & John Matatko & Ian Tonks, 1997. "Detecting Information from Directors' Trades: Signal Definition and Variable Size Effects," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 309-342, April.
    12. Susanne Espenlaub & Ian Tonks, 1998. "Post‐IPO Directors’ Sales and Reissuing Activity: An Empirical Test of IPO Signalling Models," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9‐10), pages 1037-1079, November.
    13. Denis, David J, 1990. "Defensive Changes in Corporate Payout Policy: Share Repurchases and Special Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1433-1456, December.
    14. Dennis Oswald & Steven Young, 2004. "What Role Taxes and Regulation? A Second Look at Open Market Share Buyback Activity in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1‐2), pages 257-292, January.
    15. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri, 1990. "Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 595-612, October.
    16. David Ikenberry & Josef Lakonishok & Theo Vermaelen, 2000. "Stock Repurchases in Canada: Performance and Strategic Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2373-2397, October.
    17. Dennis Oswald & Steven Young, 2004. "What Role Taxes and Regulation? A Second Look at Open Market Share Buyback Activity in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1-2), pages 257-292.
    18. Leslie A. Jeng & Andrew Metrick & Richard Zeckhauser, 2003. "Estimating the Returns to Insider Trading: A Performance-Evaluation Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 453-471, May.
    19. Hertzel, Michael & Jain, Prem C., 1991. "Earnings and risk changes around stock repurchase tender offers," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 253-274, September.
    20. Asjeet S. Lamba & Walayet A. Khan, 1999. "Exchange Listings And Delistings: The Role Of Insider Information And Insider Trading," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(2), pages 131-146, June.
    21. Hribar, Paul & Jenkins, Nicole Thorne & Johnson, W. Bruce, 2006. "Stock repurchases as an earnings management device," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 3-27, April.
    22. Liu, Chao-Shin & Ziebart, David A, 1997. "Stock Returns and Open-Market Stock Repurchase Announcements," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 709-727, November.
    23. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    24. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1997. "Detecting long-run abnormal stock returns: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 341-372, March.
    25. Leslie A. Jeng & Andrew Metrick & Richard Zeckhauser, 1999. "The Profits to Insider Trading: A Performance-Evaluation Perspective," NBER Working Papers 6913, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Kole, Stacey R., 1995. "Measuring managerial equity ownership: a comparison of sources of ownership data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 413-435, April.
    27. Lee, D Scott & Mikkelson, Wayne H & Partch, M Megan, 1992. "Managers' Trading around Stock Repurchases," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1947-1961, December.
    28. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely, 2004. "The Information Content of Share Repurchase Programs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 651-680, April.
    29. Howe, Keith M & He, Jia & Kao, G Wenchi, 1992. "One-Time Cash Flow Announcements and Free Cash-Flow Theory: Share Repurchases and Special Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1963-1975, December.
    30. Wayne H. Mikkelson & Richard S. Ruback, 1991. "Targeted Repurchases and Common Stock Returns," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(4), pages 544-561, Winter.
    31. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    32. Vermaelen, Theo, 1984. "Repurchase Tender Offers, Signaling, and Managerial Incentives," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 163-181, June.
    33. John, Kose & Lang, Larry H P, 1991. "Insider Trading around Dividend Announcements: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1361-1389, September.
    34. Seyhun, H Nejat & Bradley, Michael, 1997. "Corporate Bankruptcy and Insider Trading," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(2), pages 189-216, April.
    35. William J. McNally & Brian F. Smith & Thomas Barnes, 2006. "The Price Impacts of Open Market Repurchase Trades," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 735-752, June.
    36. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    37. Ikenberry, David & Lakonishok, Josef & Vermaelen, Theo, 1995. "Market underreaction to open market share repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 181-208.
    38. Seyhun, H. Nejat, 1986. "Insiders' profits, costs of trading, and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-212, June.
    39. Jagannathan, Murali & Stephens, Clifford P. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2000. "Financial flexibility and the choice between dividends and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 355-384, September.
    40. Bartov, Eli, 1991. "Open-market stock repurchases as signals for earnings and risk changes," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 275-294, September.
    41. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    42. Michael Gombola & Hei Wai Lee & Feng-Ying Liu, 1997. "Evidence of Selling by Managers after Seasoned Equity Offering Announcements," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), Fall.
    43. Saeyoung Chang & Michael J. Sullivan, 2007. "The Disparate Nature of Targeted Repurchases: Evidence from Long-Run Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1-2), pages 65-77.
    44. Urs Peyer, 2009. "The Nature and Persistence of Buyback Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 1693-1745, April.
    45. Michael J. Gombola & Hei Wai Lee & Feng-Ying Liu, 1999. "Further Evidence on Insider Selling Prior to Seasoned Equity Offering Announcements: The Role of Growth Opportunities," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5&6), pages 621-649.
    46. Rozeff, Michael S & Zaman, Mir A, 1988. "Market Efficiency and Insider Trading: New Evidence," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 25-44, January.
    47. Lin, Ji-Chai & Howe, John S, 1990. "Insider Trading in the OTC Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1273-1284, September.
    48. Elias Raad & H. K. Wu, 1995. "Insider Trading Effects On Stock Returns Around Open‐Market Stock Repurchase Announcements: An Empirical Study," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 18(1), pages 45-57, March.
    49. Henock Louis & Amy X. Sun & Hal White, 2010. "Insider Trading after Repurchase Tender Offer Announcements: Timing versus Informed Trading," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(1), pages 301-322, March.
    50. Aneel Keswani & Jing Yang & Steven Young, 2007. "Do Share Buybacks Provide Price Support? Evidence From Mandatory Non-Trading Periods," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5-6), pages 840-860.
    51. Barclay, Michael J. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 1988. "Corporate payout policy : Cash Dividends versus Open-Market Repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 61-82, October.
    52. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    53. Saeyoung Chang & Michael J. Sullivan, 2007. "The Disparate Nature of Targeted Repurchases: Evidence from Long‐Run Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 65-77, January.
    54. Dann, Larry Y. & Masulis, Ronald W. & Mayers, David, 1991. "Repurchase tender offers and earnings information," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 217-251, September.
    55. Laurie Simon Bagwell, 1991. "Share Repurchase and Takeover Deterrence," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(1), pages 72-88, Spring.
    56. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    57. Lamba, Asjeet S & Khan, Walayet A, 1999. "Exchange Listings and Delistings: The Role of Insider Information and Insider Trading," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(2), pages 131-146, Summer.
    58. Pugh, William & Jahera, John S, Jr, 1990. "Stock Repurchase and Excess Returns: An Empirical Examination," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 25(1), pages 127-142, February.
    59. Alan Gregory & John Matatko & Ian Tonks, 1997. "Detecting Information from Directors' Trades: Signal Definition and Variable Size Effects," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 309-342, April.
    60. Julia Sawicki & Keshab Shrestha, 2008. "Insider Trading and Earnings Management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3‐4), pages 331-346, April.
    61. Denis, David J. & Denis, Diane K. & Sarin, Atulya, 1994. "The Information Content of Dividend Changes: Cash Flow Signaling, Overinvestment, and Dividend Clienteles," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 567-587, December.
    62. Masulis, Ronald W, 1980. "Stock Repurchase by Tender Offer: An Analysis of the Causes of Common Stock Price Changes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(2), pages 305-319, May.
    63. Dittmar, Amy K, 2000. "Why Do Firms Repurchase Stock?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(3), pages 331-355, July.
    64. Aneel Keswani & Jing Yang & Steven Young, 2007. "Do Share Buybacks Provide Price Support? Evidence From Mandatory Non‐Trading Periods," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5‐6), pages 840-860, June.
    65. Susanne Espenlaub & Ian Tonks, 1998. "Post‐IPO Directors’ Sales and Reissuing Activity: An Empirical Test of IPO Signalling Models," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9‐10), pages 1037-1079, November.
    66. William J. McNally & Brian F. Smith & Thomas Barnes, 2006. "The Price Impacts of Open Market Repurchase Trades," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5-6), pages 735-752.
    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. Reddy, Kotapati Srinivasa & Nangia, Vinay Kumar & Agrawal, Rajat, 2013. "Share repurchases, signaling effect and implications for corporate governance: Evidence from India," MPRA Paper 60147, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Moin, Abdul & Guney, Yilmaz & Kalak, Izidin El, 2020. "In search of stock repurchases determinants in listed Indonesian firms during regulatory changes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 145-165.
    3. De Ridder, Adri, 2015. "Additional evidence on the frequency of share repurchases and managerial timing," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 154-164.
    4. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Robert Nash & He (Helen) Wang, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and insider trading," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 817-854, December.
    5. Robert Hull & Sungkyu Kwak & Rosemary Walker, 2012. "Explanation for market response to seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 36(3), pages 634-661, July.
    6. Cheng, Su-Yin & Hou, Han, 2013. "The information content of open-market repurchase announcements in Taiwan," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 59-75.

    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. Fei Leng & Kevin Zhao, 2014. "Insider trading around open-market share repurchases," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 38(3), pages 461-491, July.
    2. Drousia, Angeliki & Episcopos, Athanasios & Leledakis, George N., 2019. "Market reaction to actual daily share repurchases in Greece," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 267-277.
    3. Su, Xuan-Qi & Lin, Yung-Chieh & Chen, Chin-Ming & Lowe, Alpha, 2019. "Are educational managers credible or overconfident? Evidence from share repurchases in Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 93-112.
    4. Dennis Y. Chung & Dušan Isakov & Christophe Pérignon, 2005. "Repurchasing Shares on a Second Trading Line," FSES Working Papers 391, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    5. De Ridder, Adri, 2015. "Additional evidence on the frequency of share repurchases and managerial timing," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 154-164.
    6. Dittmar, Amy & Field, Laura Casares, 2015. "Can managers time the market? Evidence using repurchase price data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 261-282.
    7. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    8. Andriosopoulos, Dimitris & Lasfer, Meziane, 2015. "The market valuation of share repurchases in Europe," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 327-339.
    9. Louis T. W. Cheng & T. Y. Leung, 2008. "Is there information content from insider trading activities preceding earnings and dividend announcements in Hong Kong?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 417-437, September.
    10. Yook, Ken C., 2010. "Long-run stock performance following stock repurchases," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 323-331, August.
    11. Angeliki Drousia & Athanasios Episcopos & George N. Leledakis & Emmanouil G. Pyrgiotakis, 2023. "EU Regulation and open market share repurchases: new evidence," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(9), pages 1022-1042, June.
    12. Johannes A. Skjeltorp & Bernt Arne Ødegaard, 2004. "The ownership structure of repurchasing firms," Working Paper 2004/7, Norges Bank.
    13. Gunnar Bårdsen & Jurgen Doornik & Jan Tore Klovland, 2004. "A European-type wage equation from an American-style labor market: Evidence from a panel of Norwegian manufacturing industries in the 1930s," Working Paper 2004/4, Norges Bank.
    14. Dimitris Andriosopoulos & Chrysovalantis Gaganis & Fotios Pasiouras, 2016. "Prediction of open market share repurchases and portfolio returns: evidence from France, Germany and the UK," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 387-416, February.
    15. Andriosopoulos, Dimitris & Hoque, Hafiz, 2013. "The determinants of share repurchases in Europe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 65-76.
    16. Golbe, Devra L. & Nyman, Ingmar, 2013. "How do share repurchases affect ownership concentration?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 22-40.
    17. Ralf Schremper, 2003. "Kapitalmarktrelevanz deutscher Aktienrückkaufprogramme," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 578-605, September.
    18. Li, Lingxiang, 2016. "New findings on repurchase anomaly — The first-month effect," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 331-349.
    19. Wang, Huabing Barbara & Nguyen, Cuong & Rafi, Nurul A., 2021. "The effectiveness of price-stabilizing share buybacks: Evidence from listed firms in Vietnam," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    20. Andriosopoulos, Dimitris & Andriosopoulos, Kostas & Hoque, Hafiz, 2013. "Information disclosure, CEO overconfidence, and share buyback completion rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5486-5499.

    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:intfin:v:20:y:2010:i:4:p:376-388. 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/intfin .

    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.