Yahoo Finance Institutions own 33% of Kewaunee Scientific Corporation (NASDAQ:KEQU) shares but individual investors control 41% of the company
Key Insights
Significant control over Kewaunee Scientific by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
The top 10 shareholders own 50% of the company
Every investor in Kewaunee Scientific Corporation (NASDAQ:KEQU) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 41% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Meanwhile, institutions make up 33% of the company’s shareholders. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Kewaunee Scientific.
View our latest analysis for Kewaunee Scientific
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Kewaunee Scientific?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Kewaunee Scientific. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Kewaunee Scientific's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Kewaunee Scientific. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Northern Trust Global Investments with 11% of shares outstanding. With 7.7% and 6.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Anita Zucker and Minerva Advisors LLC are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Thomas Hull is the owner of 1.2% of the company's shares.
We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.
Insider Ownership Of Kewaunee Scientific
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Kewaunee Scientific Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just US$100m, and insiders have US$26m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 41% stake in Kewaunee Scientific. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Kewaunee Scientific you should be aware of.
Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
