Yahoo Finance Retail investors among Fisker Inc.'s (NYSE:FSR) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 19% price drop
Key Insights
Significant control over Fisker by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
44% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
To get a sense of who is truly in control of Fisker Inc. (NYSE:FSR), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Following a 19% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but insiders who own 25% stock also took a hit.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Fisker, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Fisker
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fisker?
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
Fisker already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Fisker, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Fisker. With a 12% stake, CEO Henrik Fisker is the largest shareholder. With 12% and 3.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Geeta Gupta-Fisker and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Geeta Gupta-Fisker is also Chief Financial Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.
Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.
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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Fisker
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Fisker Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$316m, and insiders have US$80m 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 -- including retail investors -- own 53% of Fisker. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Fisker you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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.
