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Investors are continuously looking to increase the return on their investments. In an ideal world investors want to increase there return and outperform the market. Theory states that it is impossible to do so without increasing your risk. Arbitrage is a concept where investors are able to generate risk-free returns exceeding the market. Dividend is a common tool for publicly listed firms when rewarding their shareholders. On ex- dividend day, the day after the dividend payout, the stock price should according to theory decrease in order for the valuation of the stock to be held constant. In our research we investigate if there are arbitrage opportunities in connection to the dividend payouts, namely the ex-dividend effect. We want to generalize our results across experimental settings, thus across different stock markets. As a basis for our research we picked the OMXS. We base our research on three theoretical areas: the dividend irrelevancy theory, the efficient market hypothesis and the anchoring theory. The dividend irrelevancy relates to how the stock price ought to behave on ex-dividend day whereas the efficient market hypotheses states that prices on a market fully reflects all available information. Both theories concur that no arbitrage opportunities should be available on the financial market. The anchoring theory highlights the fact that investors formulate an anchor price for financial assets, for example stocks. In our research we aim to formulate a practical method on how to make abnormal returns on the ex dividend effect, based on the anchoring theory. Our census sample consists of dividend-paying firms publicly registered on the OMXS, and consists of 694 observations taken from 2009 to 2012. The sample was picked on the basis of characteristics, for example that the firm has been registered for at least four years and paid dividend one time during the four years of investigation. In order to tests for arbitrage opportunities on ex-dividend day, we used a simple mathematical model measuring the deviation between the price drop cum-dividend day to ex-dividend day, and the dividend amount. We conclude that the price drop differs from the dividend amount, only accounting for a price drop of 0.73 of the dividend amount. Thus, the price drop for each dividend unit is 0.73, in relation to a perfectly efficient market where there should be no difference; hence the price drop would be equal to the dividend amount, 1. Research on the ex-dividend effect is a thoroughly investigated area, where the first research was presented in 1955. Previous research all attempts to explain why there are market anomalies, but none examine how one can capitalize on the findings. In our research we examine if it is possible to make abnormal returns based on a segmenting of stocks, depending on their price volatility. This research is thereby first in examining how to capitalize on found arbitrage opportunities.

[Truncated abstract] Given the theoretical and historical evidence that support the benefit of investing internationally. there is Iittle knowledge available of proper international portfolio construction in terms of how much should be invested in foreign countries, which countries should be targeted, and types of assets to be included in the portfolio. The prospects of these benefits depend on the market volatilities, cross-country correlations, and currency risks to change in the future. Another important issue in international portfolio diversification is the growth of newly emerging markets which have different characteristics from the developed ones. Addressing the issues, the thesis intends to investigate the nature of volatility, conditional correlations, and the impact of currency risks in international portfolio, both in developed and emerging markets. Chapter 2 provides literature review on volatility spillovers, conditional correlations, and forecasting both VaR and conditional correlations using GARCH-type models. Attention is made on the estimated models, type of assets, regions of markets, and tests of forecasts. Chapter 3 investigates the nature of volatility spillovers across intemational assets, which is important in determining the nature of portfolio's volatility when most assets are seems to be connected. ... The impacts of incorporating volatility spillovers and asymmetric effect on the forecast performance of conditional correlation will also be examined in this thesis. The VARMA-AGARCH of McAleer, Hoti and Chan (2008) and the VARMA-GARCH model of Ling and McAleer (2003) will be estimated to accommodate volatility spillovers and asymmetric effect. The CCC model of Bollerslev (1990) will also be estimated as benchmark as the model does not incorporate both volatility spillovers and asymmetric effects. Given the information about the nature of conditional correlations resulted from the forecasts using a rolling window technique, Section 2 of Chapter 4 investigates the nature of conditional correlations by estimating two multivariate GARCH models allowing for time-varying conditional correlations, namely the DCC model of Engle (2002) and the GARCC model of McAleer et al. (2008). Chapter 5 conducts VaR forecast considering the important role of VaR as a standard tool for risk management. Especially, the chapter investigates whether volatility spillovers and time-varying conditional correlations discussed in the previous two chapters are of helps in providing better VaR forecasts. The BEKK model of Engle and Kroner (1995) and the DCC model of Engle (2002) will be estimated to incorporate volatility spillovers and conditional correlations, respectively. The DVEC model of Bollerslev et al. (1998) and the CCC model of Bollerslev (1990) will be estimated to serve benchmarks, as both models do not incorporate both volatility spillovers and timevarying conditional correlations. Chapter 6 concludes the thesis and lists somc possible future research.

This paper examines the short and long-term interdependencies between stock prices and dividends. I utilize firm level data from FTSE ALL SHARE from 1990-2014 and apply panel vector error correction model estimated with Engle & Grangers (1987) two-step procedure. The results show that there is a bi-directional long-term relationship between stock prices and dividends, i.e. an adjustment process is at work when a disequilibrium occurs. I also find a bi-directional short-term relationship. This paper also shows that Lintners model and the present value model are relevant frameworks in stock valuations.

Bakgrund: Studien har genomförts för att undersöka och analysera förvärvsupplysningars användbarhet i årsredovisningar respektive integrerade rapporter från och med år 2013 till och med år 2016. Tidigare studier undersöker integrerade rapporters beslutsanvändbarhet utifrån ett investerarperspektiv, vilket kopplas till reaktioner i bolagens aktiepris ochaktieavkastning. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka skillnader i hur väl integrerade rapporter respektive årsredovisningar från noterade europeiska bolag, fungerar som beslutsunderlag för investerare i bolag som genomfört förvärv. Därtill är syftet att undersöka och analysera i vilken utsträckning integrerade rapporter är mer beslutsanvändbara än traditionella årsredovisningar. Genomförande: Studien utgår från en kvantitativ ansats där vi mäter hur aktiepris och aktieavkastning reagerar på årsrapporternas innehåll av förvärvsupplysningar. Detta föregås av innehållsanalyser av årsrapporterna vilka slutligen inkluderas i våra regressionsanalyser för besvarande av syftet. Resultat: Utifrån innehållsanalysen är integrerade rapporter generellt bättre på att ge beslutsanvändbara förvärvsupplysningar. Detta återspeglas i en större reaktion på de förvärvande bolagens aktiepris. Gällande aktieavkastningen uteblir reaktionen både för integrerade rapporter och traditionella årsredovisningar. Rörande upplysningar om goodwill reagerar aktiepriset för både integrerade rapporter och årsredovisningar, medan reaktioneni aktieavkastning uteblir. / Background: This study has been conducted to investigate possible differences in how integrated reports and traditional annual reports provide information about acquisitions for European listed companies from 2013 to 2016. Previous studies on integrated reporting have mainly focused on investigating whether these reports serve as a base for decision-usefulness for investors and how reporting companies' stock returns are subsequently improved after the issuance of annual reports as integrated reports, where results have varied. Aim: The purpose of our study is to investigate differences in how well integrated reports and annual reports from listed European companies serve as a basis for investors in companies that have completed acquisitions. In addition, the purpose is to investigate and analyse the extent to which integrated reports are more decision-useful than traditional annual reports. Completion: The study is based on a quantitative approach where we measure how stock price and return on equity react to acquisition information in annual reports. This is preceded by a content analysis of the annual reports, which is ultimately included in our regression analysis. Results: We find that integrated reports are generally better in acquisition disclosures than traditional annual reports. Furthermore, we find that stock prices of companies with integrated reports receive a more significant reaction in response to the disclosure of acquisition information than traditional annual reports. Such significance does not exist for the stock returns of both types of reporting companies. Lastly, we find that share prices of both types of reporting companies significantly respond to goodwill and intangible assets disclosures.

nÃo hà / Este estudo investiga a hipÃtese de eficiÃncia de mercado, a qual designa que estratÃgias de previsibilidade baseadas no comportamento passado das sÃries de retornos de aÃÃes nÃo implicam a obtenÃÃo de lucros econÃmicos. SÃo analisados dados de 25 mercados, estendendo-se de janeiro de 1990 a janeiro de 2010. A metodologia principal consiste na aplicaÃÃo de cinco testes de raiz unitÃria para painel, entre os quais se destaca o de Pesaran, Smith e Yamagata (2009), o qual assume que existe um determinado nÃmero de variÃveis que sÃo simultaneamente afetadas por um dado conjunto de fatores comuns nÃo observados. Os resultados modificam-se conforme altera-se o poder dos testes. O principal teste aplicado, particularmente, rejeita a hipÃtese em questÃo, sinalizando a possibilidade de exploraÃÃo de certas ineficiÃncias para a obtenÃÃo de lucros adicionais. / This paper investigates the efficient market hypothesis, which indicates a situation where investors are not able to develop a familiarity with past patterns of returns in order to obtain extra profits. It is used a sample containing 25 markets over the period January 1990 to January 2010. Econometric Methodology consists in exploiting five unit root tests, between which Pesaran, Smith e Yamagata (2009) is in relief, which assumes that there exists a number of variables that are simultaneously affected by a given set of unobserved common factors. Main results reject the efficient market hypothesis, indicating possibilities of exploiting inefficiency for obtaining extra profits.

La première rédaction enquête sur la politique de dividende récemment établie sur le marché boursier vietnamien et expérimente les périodes condensées de forte croissance et chute brutale avec une approche en deux étapes. Les résultats de la recherche montrent : (1) Les investisseurs sont d’avantage expropriés dans les entreprises dont la part de détention d’actions des initiés est plus élevée ; (2) Les investisseurs tendent à percevoir le versement de plus faibles dividendes comme un signal relatif à la rentabilité espérée dès lors que l’asymétrie d’information est réduite ; (3) Les investisseurs dans les entreprises contrôlées par l’Etat sont plus enclins à recevoir des dividendes que celles qui ne le sont pas. La seconde rédaction pose que le marché vietnamien des actions est un laboratoire prometteur pour enquêter sur le comportement des cours de marché le jour du Exdividende. Les résultats des recherches suggèrent que les investisseurs du marché boursiervietnamien sont indifférents à l’écart dans l’application de taxe sur les revenus des dividendes. Ils cherchent à capter des dividendes s’ils trouvent des opportunités de profit. Par conséquent, les investisseurs achètent des actions le jour du Cum-dividende et les vendent le Ex-dividende pour exploiter les opportunités de profit générées par le paiement de dividendes. La dernière rédaction examine les effets des droits des actionnaires et des créanciers sur la politique de dividende lorsqueles frais de représentation des actionnaires et des créances tendent à augmenter. Ses découvertes indiquent que les actionnaires et les créanciers sont plus souvent expropriés et l’augmentation des expropriations des créanciers (actionnaires) est plus élevée si les actionnaires (créanciers) sont fortement protégées par la réglementation. / The first essay investigates dividend policy in Vietnamese stock market which is newly established and experiences short booming and crashing periods with a two-step approach. The research findings show: (1) investors are expropriated more in firms with higher insider ownership; (2) Investors tend to receive smaller dividends paid as a signal of expected profitability when information asymmetry is lower; (3) investors in state-controlled firms are more likely to receive dividends than those in non-state-controlled firms. The second essay posits that Vietnamese stock market is a promising laboratory to investigate stock price behavior on ex-dividend day. The research results imply that investors in Vietnamese stock market is indifferent to the difference in tax treatment of capital gains to dividends, they try to capture dividends if they find profit opportunities. Therefore, investors buy stocks on the cum-dividend day and sell them on the exdividend to exploit profit opportunities created by dividend payment. The third essay examines the effects of shareholder rights and creditor rights on dividend policy when agency costs of shareholders and creditors tend to increase. Its findings indicate that are more expropriated and theincrease in the expropriation of creditors (shareholders) is higher if shareholders (creditors) are protected strongly by law.

Bakgrund: Sedan slutet av 1960-talet har flera studier kunnat påvisa drift i aktiepriset efter att ett bolag publicerat en kvartalsrapport, något som benämns som Post-earningsannouncement drift (PEAD). När bolagets resultat varit bättre än det marknaden förväntade sig har aktiepriset fortsatt stiga under en längre period, vilket går emot etablerade hypoteser om en effektiv marknad. Det motsatta har skett när bolaget publicerat ett sämre resultat än vad marknaden förväntat sig. Eftersom den svenska marknaden är relativt outforskad och att den kontinuerligt förändras är det intressant att undersöka om den anomali som nyss beskrivits fortsatt existerar på Stockholmsbörsen, om den går att använda som lönsam investeringsstrategi och huruvida det finns skillnader i aktieprisdrift mellan branscher eftersom det aldrig tidigare studerats. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att analysera huruvida PEAD förekommer på Nasdaq Stockholmsbörsen och om det existerar skillnader i aktieprisdrift mellan branscher under perioden 2014–2018. Studien avser vidare studera om det är möjligt att utforma en lönsam investeringsstrategi baserad på PEAD. Metod: För att uppnå studiens syfte tillämpades en deduktiv ansats och en kvantitativ metod. För att analysera PEAD på Stockholmsbörsen baserades portföljer på Unexpected Earnings (UE) och två modeller benämnda Buy-and-hold-abnormal returns (BHAR) och Calendar-Time regression model (CTP) användes för att illustrera och testa portföljernas avkastning. Resultat: Studiens resultat tyder på att PEAD fortfarande existerar på Stockholmsbörsen, men att resultatet skiljer sig något från tidigare studier. En drift i positiv riktning påvisas i innevarande studie i portföljer av bolag som publicerat såväl bättre som sämre resultat än vad marknaden förväntat sig. I tidigare studier har portföljer av bolag som publicerat sämre resultat än marknaden förväntat sig istället haft en negativ. Vidare visar resultatet att det återfunnits skillnader i drift mellan undersökta branscher och att PEAD sannolikt inte är en lönsam investeringsstrategi. / Background: Since the end of 1960 several studies has indicated a delay in stock price movements after the publishing of a company's interim report. When the earnings of a company were higher than expected, the stock price continued to rise for an extended period, which contradicts the different hypothesis of efficient markets. The opposite effect was observed when the earnings were lower than expected. Due to the limited number of studies regarding PEAD conducted on the Swedish stock market, and the fact that the stock markets are constantly changing, it is interesting to examine and analyze if the anomaly still exists on Stockholmsbörsen. Another point of interest to research is whether it would be possible to earn abnormal returns through a PEAD investment strategy and analyze if there are differences in drift depending on the industry. Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze whether PEAD exists on Nasdaq Stockholmsbörsen and if differences in stock price drift exists between industries during the period 2014-2018. The study further means to study whether it is possible to implement a profitable investment strategy based on PEAD. Methodology: In order to reach the aim of the study a quantitative method and deductive approach were used. In order to analyze PEAD on the Swedish stock market portfolios based on Unexpected Earnings (UE) were formed and two models named Buy-and-hold-abnormal returns (BHAR) and Calendar-Time regression model (CTP) were used in order to illustrate and test the portfolio returns. Results: The results of the study indicated that PEAD exists on Stockholmsbörsen, but that the results differ from previous studies. A positive drift was observed in both the portfolios which were based on positive and negative earnings surprises in relation to the market's expectations. In previous studies the portfolio based on companies which reported negative earnings surprise had a negative drift, which differs from this study’s results. Furthermore, this study’s results indicate that an investment strategy based on PEAD is not profitable and that differences in drift could be observed depending on the industry.

Syftet med Magisteruppsatsen har varit att använda data över SAM-index och faktorer i Det goda arbetet från Arbetsmiljöverket för att kunna identifiera om det indikerar samband mellan börsnoterade företags börsvärden och deras systematiska arbetsmiljöarbete år 2012. Magisteruppsatsen har varit avgränsad till 47 företag på den svenska börsen som har svarat på Arbetsmiljöverkets undersökning NU2012. Företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar har gåtts igenom för att eftersöka hur hållbarhetsarbetet genomförs.   Metoden i studien är en kvantitativ ansats där statistiska, kvantifierbara resultat eftersökts. Företagen har delats in i fyra grupper baserat på värdena de fått i undersökningarna: i) SAM-index och ii) faktorerna i Det goda arbetet.   Resultaten för SAM-index indikerar samband mellan företagens systematiska arbetsmiljöarbete och börsvärde år 2012. Viss indikation på samband kan man se för Det goda arbetet dock inte lika starkt. Vidare kan man för åren 2008-2011 (där det inte finns data för SAM-index och faktorer i Det goda arbetet) se att det finns tendens indikation till samband mellan företagens aktiepris, omsättning, antal anställda och arbetsmiljöarbete.   Huvudslutsats baserat på analyserna av de data om aktiepris och arbetsmiljöarbete i Sverige samt den litteraturstudie som ingått i studien, kan det konstateras att företag som har ett bra arbetsmiljöarbete tenderar att ha högre aktiepris och bättre börsutveckling än företag som har sämre arbetsmiljöarbete.   Nyckelord: Arbetsmiljö, SAM-index, Aktiepris, Kvalité, Kompetens, Produktivitet. / The aim of the study was to use SAM-index data and data on factors from the report Det Goda Arbetet from the Swedish Work Environment Authority and identify if there is any relation between listed companies' market values and their systematic work environment management. This master’s work is limited to Forty-seven companies on the Swedish stock market that responded to the Work Environment Authority survey NU2012.   The method in this study is a quantitative approach in which statistical, quantifiable results were sought. The companies that participated in the NU2012 survey was divided into three groups based on their results from: i) Work Environment SAM index data and ii) data on factors from the report Det Goda Arbetet.   Results from SAM- index data show a relation between companies’ systematic work environment management and market capitalization for the year 2012 while the results from Det Goda Arbetet show that scores for the highest average varies between the groups. Results for the years 2008-2011 (the year when we don`t have access to the baseline study) shows that there is a tendency for a relation between share price, turnover, number of employees and work environment for these years.   The main conclusion based on the analyzes of the data on the share price and the work environment in Sweden as well as the literature review included in the study, it is found that companies that have a good work Environment tend to have higher stock price and better stock market performance than companies with poor work environment management. Keywords: Work environment, SAM index, Stock price, Quality, Skills, Productivity.

A rational long-horizon stock investment decision is a complex process due to uncertainty in supply and demand, competitive advantage, macroeconomic parameters and various perspectives of investors. Today, the '€˜non-tangible assets'€™ (NTA) that include goodwill and intangible assets are a significant part of corporate assets, but their role in stock performance has not well studied. The purpose of this research is to empirically analyze the implications of NTA and of gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States on the stock price. According to the efficient market hypothesis, stock price reflects all relevant information. The research question focused on the extent to which NTA and the GDP reflected in the stock price. To determine the extent to which NTA and GDP reflected on the stock price, regression analysis and other statistical tests were used. The sample for the empirical study was 56 corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ). The required data from October 2007 to September 2018 were collected from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the United States Bureau of Economics (BEA). The key findings of the study are: the NTA and stock price of 45 corporations have a statistically significant correlation as opposed to 11 corporations. The combined NTA of these 11 corporations for the third quarter of 2018 was $531.64 billion. Furthermore, the GDP and stock price of 53 corporations have a statistically significant correlation, but no evidence for three corporations was found. The significance for positive social change is knowledge from this research about the implications of NTA and GDP on stock performance that the investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders could use for preserving the limited resources and creating wealth.