Insiders were the biggest winners as Kelsian Group Limited's (ASX:KLS) market cap grew by AU$110m last week

Key Insights

• Kelsian Group's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• 51% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• 23% of Kelsian Group is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of Kelsian Group Limited (ASX:KLS) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 30% to be precise, is individual insiders. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 7.0% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Kelsian Group.

Check out our latest analysis for Kelsian Group

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Kelsian Group. 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 17%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.3% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO Clinton Feuerherdt is the owner of 2.3% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 8 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.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Kelsian Group Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful AU$517m stake in this AU$1.7b 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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 23% stake in Kelsian 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 23%, of the Kelsian Group stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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 Kelsian Group is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is concerning...

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.