Inside the “black box” of private in-house meetings

Robert M. Bowen (), Shantanu Dutta (), Songlian Tang () and Pengcheng Zhu ()
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Robert M. Bowen: University of San Diego
Shantanu Dutta: University of Ottawa
Songlian Tang: East China University of Science and Technology
Pengcheng Zhu: University of San Diego

Review of Accounting Studies, 2018, vol. 23, issue 2, No 4, 487-527

Abstract: Abstract We examine information content and related insider trading around private in-house meetings between corporate insiders and investors and analysts. We use a hand-collected dataset of approximately 17,000 private meeting summary reports of Shenzhen Stock Exchange firms over 2012–2014. We find that these private meetings are informative and corporate insiders conducted over one-half of their stock sales (totaling $8.7 billion) around these meetings. Some insiders time their transactions and earn substantial gains by selling (purchasing) relatively more shares before bad (good) news disclosures while postponing selling (purchasing) when good (bad) news is to be disclosed in the meeting. Finally, we conduct a content analysis of published meeting summary reports and find that the tone in these reports is associated with stock market reactions around (1) private meetings themselves, (2) subsequent public release of private meeting details, (3) subsequent earnings announcements and (4) future stock performance.

Keywords: Disclosure; Private meetings; Private information; Insider trading; Content analysis; D82; G14; G15; M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11142-017-9433-z

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