After losing 56% in the past year, FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NOTE) institutional owners must be relieved by the recent gain

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in FiscalNote Holdings implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 5 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• Insider ownership in FiscalNote Holdings is 10%

If you want to know who really controls FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NOTE), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 38% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 11% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 56%.

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

Check out our latest analysis for FiscalNote Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About FiscalNote Holdings?

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 FiscalNote Holdings does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of FiscalNote Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It looks like hedge funds own 13% of FiscalNote Holdings shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Maso Capital Partners Ltd is the largest shareholder with 21% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 13% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.3% by the third-largest shareholder. Timothy Hwang, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 54% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 FiscalNote 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. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of FiscalNote Holdings, Inc.. Insiders have a US$23m stake in this US$226m business. 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

With a 24% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over FiscalNote Holdings. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 12%, private equity firms could influence the FiscalNote Holdings board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 3.1%, of the FiscalNote Holdings stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for FiscalNote Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com