Stock splits and changes in ownership structures : evidence from Sweden

• Main Authors: Abrahamson, Martin, Kalström, Robert
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan på Gotland, Avdelningen för Företagsekonomi 2009
• Subjects: Economics; Corporate governance; stock split; ownership structure; Business studies; Företagsekonomi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hgo:diva-98

Stock splits are supposed to be financial cosmetics. However, this study shows that such corporate events have impact on ownership structure. This study exploits unique data from Swedish Central Security Registration regarding ownership and analyzes the ownership structures in stock splitting firms. Our data consists of exclu-sive semi-annually reported ownership structures of companies listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange. We categorize stock owners as domestic institutional investors, foreign investors and domestic individual investors. The information on ultimate ownership composition in listed companies is rare and more or less exquisite for Sweden.Our results confirm positive abnormal returns surrounding the announcement of stock splits and stock dividends. Moreover, we find evidence on changes in owner-ship structure as well as number of shareholders. The results show evidence on decreasing ownership concentration due to the stock split, which implies a more dispersed ownership structure.