We examine the influence of firm ownership composition on both the abnormal returns at the announcement of a stock split and liquidity changes following a stock split. We find three results. First, the largest post-split increase in institutional ownership occurs for firms that had low...

This paper investigates whether the tax disadvantage of dividends results in a relation between institutional portfolio allocations and dividend yield. I analyze the holdings of tax-exempt and taxable institutional investors. Controlling for size, performance, and risk, I find that taxable...

The number of non-U.S. firms listing their equity on U.S. stock exchanges has increased dramatically. While non-U.S. firms may seek U.S. listings for a variety of reasons, we focus on one often-mentioned motive, namely, that a U.S. listing enhances access to external capital markets. We document...

We investigate the relationship between ownership structure and the volume of trade and returns of firms on days where the absolute value of the market's return is large, defined to be two percent or more. We find three main results. First, there is an abnormally high turnover in firm's shares...

The traditional view of stock splits as cosmetic transactions that simply divide the same pie into more slices is inconsistent with the significant wealth effect associated with the announcement of a stock split. Streetlore attributes the price reaction to improved liquidity. The empirical...

From 1986 to 1993, the United Shareholders Association (USA) provided a conduit through which small atomistic shareholders could unite, and attempt to influence the governance of large US corporations. This paper describes the USA's actions and examines its impact on targeted corporations. We...