The Persistence of Long-Run Abnormal Returns: Evidence from Stock Repurchases and Offerings

• Main Authors: FU, Fangjian, HUANG, Sheng, Lin, Hu
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Long-run abnormal returns; market efficiency; stock repurchases; seasoned equity offerings; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3269; https://www.ccfr.org.cn/cicf2012/papers/20120131155405.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Prior studies have documented that stock returns are abnormally high in the years following share repurchases and abnormally low following seasoned equity offerings, relative to various benchmarks of expected returns. While this evidence is confirmed for these two corporate events as of 2002, we do not find robust long-run abnormal returns for both events announced after 2002. The disappearance of abnormal performance is consistent with the improved stock market efficiency in recent years, accompanied by reduced trading costs and increased institutional investment activities, as documented by a number of recent studies. Echoing the improved market efficiency, fewer firms in the recent years conduct stock repurchases or seasoned equity offerings for the purpose of timing the market.