Thirty Years of Canadian Evidence on Stock Splits, Reverse Stock Splits, and Stock Dividends

Thirty years of Canadian evidence has been used to shed light on the motivation and implications of stock splits, stock dividends, and reverse splits. The maximum 5-year period before and after the “event” month was focused and the changes in stock return, earnings per share (EPS), beta, trading volume, number of transactions, price to earning ratio (P/E), valuation, and corporate governance characteristics were examined. Strong information signaling effect of stock splits was found, as well as persistent superior performance and a favorable change in relative valuation are observed in the post-stock split period. The total trading volume increases after stock split ex-date while the trading volume per transaction decreases considerably, signifying a possible change in investor composition. However, no accompanying change was found in the governance environment. The overall evidence supports the signaling hypothesis as well as the optimum price and the relative valuation hypotheses. Stock dividend and reverse stock split firms have significantly weaker stock performance and operating performance than stock split firms. The negative trend does not improve in a long-term after the ex-date.