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Journal of Accounting Research Vol. 30 No. 1 1992

Accounting Earnings Announcements, Institutional Investor Concentration, and Common Stock Returns

Gordon Potter

University of Minnesota System

Abstract

[Excerpt] This study examines the relation between the level of institutional investor ownership and the magnitude of security price variability at quarterly earnings announcement dates. Prior research consistently documents a negative association between firm size and announcement-date return variability. One explanation for this finding is that as more timely, alternative information becomes available on large firms prior to an announcement date, their security prices become informative, thereby reducing the information content of the earnings announcement. Large firms are closely followed by institutional investors. These investors dedicate substantial resources to information search. Therefore, the link between size and information production may be attributable to the influence of institutional investors on the information production process. Because institutional trades can also affect security prices, however, the precise impact of institutional following on the variability of prices at quarterly earnings dates is not evident.

DOI
10.2307/2491097
Volume
30
Issue
1
Pages
146
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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