Individual investors invested in Kelsian Group Limited (ASX:KLS) copped the brunt of last week's AU$175m market cap decline

Key Insights

• Significant control over Kelsian Group by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 11 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Insider ownership in Kelsian Group is 25%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Kelsian Group Limited (ASX:KLS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 31% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And following last week's 12% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.

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

View our latest analysis for Kelsian Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Kelsian Group?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

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.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Kelsian Group. The company's largest shareholder is Neil Smith, with ownership of 12%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.4% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.3% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that Clinton Feuerherdt, the CEO has 2.3% of the shares allocated to their name.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 11 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. 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 Kelsian Group

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. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Kelsian Group Limited. Insiders own AU$320m worth of shares in the AU$1.3b company. 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-- including retail investors -- own 31% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 30%, 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:

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Kelsian Group .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report 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.

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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.