Are All Insider Sales Created Equal? Evidence from Form 4 Footnote Disclosures

This paper is the first to examine the information contained in executives’ voluntary supplementary disclosures in footnotes on SEC Form 4 filings that accompany stock sales. Analysing these supplementary disclosures we are able to distinguish between discretionary sales, for which insiders have discretion over the amount and timing of the sale, and nondiscretionary sales. We find that discretionary sales involve significantly larger trades and produce significantly lower abnormal announcement returns than nondiscretionary sales, particularly when internal controls are perceived to be weak. Our findings suggests that discretionary sales reveal negative information to investors who do not seem to fully impound the information into stock prices in a timely manner as these sales are predictive of negative future stock returns. Investigating the type of bad news that these insider sales predict, we find a positive association with the likelihood of future analyst downgrades, negative earnings surprises and future litigation

results of the prospective observational Berlin Beat of Running study

Objectives: While regular physical exercise has many health benefits, strenuous physical exercise may have a negative impact on cardiac function. The ‘Berlin Beat of Running’ study focused on feasibility and diagnostic value of continuous ECG monitoring in recreational endurance athletes during a marathon race. We hypothesised that cardiac arrhythmias and especially atrial fibrillation are frequently found in a cohort of recreational endurance athletes. The main secondary hypothesis was that pathological laboratory findings in these athletes are (in part) associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Design: Prospective observational cohort study including healthy volunteers. Setting and participants: One hundred and nine experienced marathon runners wore a portable ECG recorder during a marathon race in Berlin, Germany. Athletes underwent blood tests 2–3 days prior, directly after and 1–2 days after the race. Results: Overall, 108 athletes (median 48 years (IQR 45–53), 24% women) completed the marathon in 249±43 min. Blinded ECG analysis revealed abnormal findings during the marathon in 18 (16.8%) athletes. Ten (9.3%) athletes had at least one episode of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, one of whom had atrial fibrillation; eight (7.5%) individuals showed transient ST-T-segment deviations. Abnormal ECG findings were associated with advanced age (OR 1.11 per year, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.23), while sex and cardiovascular risk profile had no impact. Directly after the race, high-sensitive troponin T was elevated in 18 (16.7%) athletes and associated with ST-T-segment deviation (OR 9.9, 95% CI 1.9 to 51.5), while age, sex and cardiovascular risk profile had no impact. Conclusions: ECG monitoring during a marathon is feasible. Abnormal ECG findings were present in every sixth athlete. Exercise-induced transient ST-T-segment deviations were associated with elevated high-sensitive troponin T (hsTnT) values. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01428778; Results

Speaking with One Voice? Individual Preferences and Managers’ Personal Communication Style

We examine whether and to what extent personal communication of corporate information by individual managers is affected by personal preferences for impression management. Using earnings conference calls as a setting to observe individual managers’ personal communication and controlling for firm-specific and manager-specific factors, we document that the communication style of managers selling corporate stock shortly after the call is significantly more optimistic than the communication of non-selling managers participating in the same call. The effect is more pronounced in the less scripted and more flexible question and answer section. Taken together, our findings suggest that differences in individuals’ personal communication style are not only caused by individual managers’ personality or career backgrounds, but may also emerge from managers’ conscious or unconscious preferences for impression management

Speaking with one voice? Individual preferences and managers’ personal communication style

We examine whether and to what extent personal communication of corporate information by individual managers is affected by personal preferences for impression management. Using earnings conference calls as a setting to observe individual managers’ personal communication and controlling for firm-specific and manager-specific factors, we document that the communication style of managers selling corporate stock shortly after the call is significantly more optimistic than the communication of non-selling managers participating in the same call. The effect is more pronounced in the less scripted and more flexible question and answer section. Taken together, our findings suggest that differences in individuals’ personal communication style are not only caused by individual managers’ personality or career backgrounds, but may also emerge from managers’ conscious or unconscious preferences for impression management