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Do insiders trade on innovation?

Ibrahim Bostan and G. Mujtaba Mian

Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 2023, vol. 19, issue 1

Abstract: We find that pure insider share purchases—which we define as insider purchases over two successive years without any corresponding sales—are a strong predictor of a firm’s patent applications. The predictability increases with the quality of the patent: Applications for the highest-quality, breakthrough patents increase by 21% in the year following pure insider purchases in our sample. These purchases are associated with large abnormal stock returns of 1.1% per month (14% annualized) over the subsequent three-year period. We also document that stock price responds less to the subsequent announcement of the grant of patent if the application for the patent has been preceded by pure insider purchases, consistent with the idea that insider purchases reveal information about future firm innovation. Our evidence has implications for understanding insider trading within technology companies that have become a dominant feature of US stock markets in recent decades.

Keywords: Insider trading; Innovation; Abnormal stock returns; Patents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G14 G30 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:19:y:2023:i:1:s1815566922000455

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2022.100350

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Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics is currently edited by Agnes C.S. Cheng, P. Clarkson, F.A. Gul, Zoltan Matolcsy, Dan Simunic and Ben Srinidhi

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