Increases to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.'s (NYSE:OPY) CEO Compensation Might Cool off for now

CEO Bud Lowenthal has done a decent job of delivering relatively good performance at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY) recently. This is something shareholders will keep in mind as they cast their votes on company resolutions such as executive remuneration in the upcoming AGM on 10 May 2021. However, some shareholders will still be cautious of paying the CEO excessively.

View our latest analysis for Oppenheimer Holdings

How Does Total Compensation For Bud Lowenthal Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

At the time of writing, our data shows that Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. has a market capitalization of US$649m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$9.4m for the year to December 2020. Notably, that's an increase of 60% over the year before. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$500k.

In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations ranging from US$400m to US$1.6b, the reported median CEO total compensation was US$2.0m. Hence, we can conclude that Bud Lowenthal is remunerated higher than the industry median. What's more, Bud Lowenthal holds US$168m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.

Component	2020	2019	Proportion (2020)
Salary	US$500k	US$500k	5%
Other	US$8.9m	US$5.4m	95%
Total Compensation	US$9.4m	US$5.9m	100%

On an industry level, around 13% of total compensation represents salary and 87% is other remuneration. Oppenheimer Holdings sets aside a smaller share of compensation for salary, in comparison to the overall industry. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

A Look at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.'s Growth Numbers

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 68% a year over the past three years. It achieved revenue growth of 36% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. The combination of strong revenue growth with medium-term EPS improvement certainly points to the kind of growth we like to see. Although we don't have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. for providing a total return of 91% over three years. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.

In Summary...

Seeing that the company has put up a decent performance, only a few shareholders, if any at all, might have questions about the CEO pay in the upcoming AGM. However, any decision to raise CEO pay might be met with some objections from the shareholders given that the CEO is already paid higher than the industry average.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Oppenheimer Holdings that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock.

Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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