Individual investors who hold 52% of RPMGlobal Holdings Limited (ASX:RUL) gained 11%, institutions profited as well

Key Insights

• Significant control over RPMGlobal Holdings by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 48% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 10% of RPMGlobal Holdings is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls RPMGlobal Holdings Limited (ASX:RUL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 52% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While individual investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 11% price gain, institutions also received a 27% cut.

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

View our latest analysis for RPMGlobal Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About RPMGlobal Holdings?

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.

We can see that RPMGlobal Holdings 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 RPMGlobal Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

It would appear that 5.9% of RPMGlobal Holdings shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. The company's largest shareholder is Long Path Partners, LP, with ownership of 5.9%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.1% and 4.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO Richard Mathews directly holds 3.7% of the total shares outstanding.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of RPMGlobal Holdings

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in RPMGlobal Holdings Limited. Insiders have a AU$62m stake in this AU$590m business. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 52% stake in RPMGlobal Holdings, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 4.5%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand RPMGlobal Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.