Individual investors who hold 59% of Nel ASA (OB:NEL) gained 10%, institutions profited as well

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Nel indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 36% ownership
• Institutions own 29% of Nel

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If you want to know who really controls Nel ASA (OB:NEL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 59% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched kr5.1b last week, while institutions who own 29% also benefitted.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Nel

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nel?

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 Nel. 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. 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 Nel's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Nel is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Samsung E&A Co., Ltd. with 9.1% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 3.4% and 3.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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 Nel

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.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Nel ASA in their own names. It appears that the board holds about kr706k worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of kr5.1b. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 59% of Nel shares. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 9.1% of Nel stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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 Nel is showing 1 warning sign 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.