Are CEOs hedge against share price fall?

Using a combination of Agency Theory, Institutional Theory and Signaling Theory, this study investigates the link between CEO characteristics and share price for a sample of 134 publicly traded firms from the Main Board of the Nigerian Exchange, for a period of fifteen (15) years (2008-2022). CEO characteristics considered are duality, nationality, gender, tenure, turnover and ownership. In contrast to prior literature, share price is defined as the average share price at the beginning and at the end of the year. Furthermore, the analysis examines the association between CEO characteristics and share price. Finally, the present study analyzes the relationship between CEO characteristics and share price conjointly. Comparable to general findings from studies using Nigerian data, the empirical analysis as a whole shows that CEO nationality, CEO gender and firm size are significant. However, CEO duality, tenure, turnover, ownership, leverage, listing age and firm growth are not significant with share price. Overall, results provide evidence that CEO roles in maximizing share price vary across firms and characteristics. Consequently, these findings do not lend support to the CEO duality, tenure, turnover, and ownership in maintaining corporate share price. Overall, our results indicate that maximizing share price depend on corporate CEO nationality, CEO gender and firm size.