Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after Hansen Technologies Limited's (ASX:HSN) market cap dropped by AU$139m

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Hansen Technologies indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 25 shareholders own 46% of the company
• Insiders own 22% of Hansen Technologies

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If you want to know who really controls Hansen Technologies Limited (ASX:HSN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. 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).

While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 11% price drop, institutions with their 24% holdings also suffered.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Hansen Technologies.

Check out our latest analysis for Hansen Technologies

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hansen Technologies?

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 Hansen Technologies. 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 Hansen Technologies' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Hansen Technologies. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Andrew Hansen with 11% of shares outstanding. With 10% and 5.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, David Osborne and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 Hansen Technologies

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Hansen Technologies Limited. Insiders own AU$264m worth of shares in the AU$1.2b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 53% of Hansen Technologies shares. 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:

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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.