Download or read book Stock Splits and Large Stock Dividends written by Graeme Rankine and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior research has used inaccurate classification rules to distinguish between stock splits and stock dividends. For a sample of two-for-one stock distributions, we show that firms that accounted for the distribution as a stock dividend generated five-day abnormal returns of 2.70%, compared to 0.93% for the stock split firms. Announcement returns are positively related to earnings growth in the two years following the distribution for stock dividend firms but not for stock split firms. The accounting choice appears to be used to confirm management's private information about future earnings revealed at the time of the distribution announcement.