Investor relations activities and insider trading: Evidence from China

This paper examines the impact of investor relations (IR) activities involving different market participants on the listed firms' insiders' information acquisition and informed trading behavior. Using IR activities data of SZSE-listed firms from July 2012 to December 2021, we find that it seems that IR activities with insider trading have higher information content, especially those involving the participation of sell-side analysts or mutual fund managers. By properly timing trades according to their foreknowledge of these activities, insiders can significantly improve their returns. Our results highlight that the sell-side analysts and mutual fund managers play the crucial roles in facilitating insiders' informed trading.