Essays on Institutional Trading

Institutional investors, such as pension funds and mutual funds, play an essential role in the U.S. stock markets. This research explores the trading behaviors of institutional investors around two distinct corporate events: a stock’s addition to the S&P 500 index, and accounting restatement. Using proprietary institutional trading data from Abel Noser Solutions, this study investigates whether and how institutional investors use their superior resources and skills to predict the occurrence of the events, and anticipate the market reaction to the announcements. The findings suggest that institutional investors possess informational advantages while they exploit profits through heterogeneous trading strategies.