Great week for Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) institutional investors after losing 9.5% over the previous year

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Mission Produce's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Insiders own 29% of Mission Produce

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Every investor in Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 32% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 7.2% increase in the share price after a year of 9.5% losses as a sign that returns may to begin trending higher.

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

See our latest analysis for Mission Produce

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Mission Produce?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Mission Produce. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Mission Produce's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Mission Produce. Luis Gonzalez is currently the company's largest shareholder with 12% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10% and 8.4% of the stock. Bruce Taylor, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, CEO Stephen Barnard is the owner of 5.1% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 9 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 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 Mission Produce

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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 Mission Produce, Inc.. Insiders have a US$251m stake in this US$852m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 28% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 10%, of the Mission Produce 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:

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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.