A look at the shareholders of Kelsian Group Limited (ASX:KLS) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

Kelsian Group isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of AU$1.6b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Kelsian Group.

See our latest analysis for Kelsian Group  ownership-breakdown

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Kelsian Group?

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.

We can see that Kelsian Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Kelsian Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters. earnings-and-revenue-growth

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Kelsian Group. The company's largest shareholder is Neil Smith, with ownership of 19%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.5% and 8.4% of the stock. In addition, we found that Clinton Feuerherdt, the CEO has 2.3% of the shares allocated to their name.



We also observed that the top 7 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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Kelsian Group

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Kelsian Group Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful AU$496m stake in this AU$1.6b business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Kelsian Group. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 32%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Kelsian Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk.  We've identified 3 warning signs  with Kelsian Group (at least 1 which doesn't sit too well with us)  , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this freereport on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.

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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