Institutional investors control 53% of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ:CLNE) and were rewarded last week after stock increased 10.0%

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Clean Energy Fuels' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 7 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ:CLNE), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Last week’s 10.0% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 10%.

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

See our latest analysis for Clean Energy Fuels

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Clean Energy Fuels?

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 Clean Energy Fuels. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Clean Energy Fuels, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Clean Energy Fuels. The company's largest shareholder is TotalEnergies SE, with ownership of 19%. The second and third largest shareholders are BlackRock, Inc. and Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 8.0%. Furthermore, CEO Andrew Littlefair is the owner of 0.6% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 7 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.

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

Insider Ownership Of Clean Energy Fuels

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Clean Energy Fuels Corp.. It has a market capitalization of just US$762m, and insiders have US$14m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 26% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 19% of Clean Energy Fuels. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Clean Energy Fuels better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Clean Energy Fuels you should be aware of.

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.