Institutions profited after Ventia Services Group Limited's (ASX:VNT) market cap rose AU$183m last week but retail investors profited the most

Key Insights

• Significant control over Ventia Services Group by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 49% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Recent sales by insiders

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Every investor in Ventia Services Group Limited (ASX:VNT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 49% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s AU$183m market cap gain, institutions too had a 46% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Ventia Services Group, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Ventia Services Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ventia Services 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.

Ventia Services Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Ventia Services Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Ventia Services Group. State Street Global Advisors, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 6.6% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 6.2% and 5.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO Dean Banks directly holds 0.8% of the total shares outstanding.

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 it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Ventia Services Group

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Ventia Services Group Limited. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth AU$118m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 49% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Ventia Services Group. 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:

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. Be aware that Ventia Services Group is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , 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.