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Does institutional shareholder activism stimulate corporate information flow?

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  • Prevost, Andrew K.
  • Wongchoti, Udomsak
  • Marshall, Ben R.

Abstract

Activist shareholders have an incentive to communicate and cooperate with other major shareholders. However, the impact of their activity on information flow surrounding targeted firms is largely unknown. We explore this aspect using a prolific proponent: labor unions. Following the mailing of proxies containing union-sponsored shareholder proposals, trading volume increases significantly and at-issue bond yield spreads of targeted firms are lower compared to matched firms. Subsequent difference-in-differences analyses show that stock prices of targeted firms become more informative as a result of activism, affirming the intuition that activism results in a reduction of differential information between outside investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Prevost, Andrew K. & Wongchoti, Udomsak & Marshall, Ben R., 2016. "Does institutional shareholder activism stimulate corporate information flow?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 105-117.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:70:y:2016:i:c:p:105-117
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2016.06.009
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Shareholder activism; Stock price informativeness; Labor unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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