Institutional Investment Patterns in Gender-Diverse Firms

Abstract

The authors examine the relationship between board gender diversity and institutional ownership. They find that firms with more gender diversity tend to have lower holdings of institutional ownership. The results are similar for various types of institutions such as banks, insurance-related companies, and mutual funds. Additionally, the authors find that institutional investors have lower investments in gender-diverse firms with higher institutional following and vice versa. The present results may be driven by the richer information environments and the informativeness of stock prices in gender-diverse firms.