Do Directors Own ENGlobal Corporation (NASDAQ:ENG) Shares?

The big shareholder groups in ENGlobal Corporation (NASDAQ:ENG) have power over the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

ENGlobal is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of US$24m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about ENGlobal.

Check out our latest analysis for ENGlobal

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ENGlobal?

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.

ENGlobal already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 17% of the company. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see ENGlobal's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in ENGlobal. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO William Coskey with 32% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are B-29 Family Holdings, LLC and NorthPointe Capital, LLC, each holding around 5.7% of the shares outstanding.

On studying the facts and figures more closely, we found that the top 5 shareholders control 53% of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of ENGlobal

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of ENGlobal Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just US$24m, and insiders have US$8.9m worth of shares in their own names. I would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 34% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over ENG. 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.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 5.6%, private equity firms could influence the ENG board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.7%, of the company's shares. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for ENGlobal you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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