Key Insights

Significantly high institutional ownership implies Consolidated Edison's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 49% ownership Insiders have been buying lately

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Every investor in Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 69% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Losing money on investments is something no shareholder enjoys, least of all institutional investors who saw their holdings value drop by 4.3% last week. However, the 14% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. They should, however, be mindful of further losses in the future.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Consolidated Edison, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Consolidated Edison NYSE:ED Ownership Breakdown May 9th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Consolidated Edison?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Consolidated Edison already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Consolidated Edison's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.NYSE:ED Earnings and Revenue Growth May 9th 2025

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Consolidated Edison is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 12% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 11% of common stock, and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. holds about 6.3% of the company stock.

Story Continues

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Consolidated Edison

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Consolidated Edison, Inc. in their own names. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$9.5m worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 30% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Consolidated Edison better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted  2 warning signs for Consolidated Edison  (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.

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.

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