We study the pricing effects of dividend and earnings announcements by taking advantage of the unique setting in Japan where managers simultaneously announce the current year's dividends and earnings as well as forecasts of next year's dividends and earnings. Defining surprises as deviations...

Managers appear to design stock splits to return the price of the company's shares to the price level achieved after the last split. Reducing the share price below the price achieved in the last split is interpreted by investors and securities analysts as a positive signal.