Are Institutions Heavily Invested In Phoenix New Media Limited's (NYSE:FENG) Shares?

A look at the shareholders of Phoenix New Media Limited (NYSE:FENG) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.

With a market capitalization of US$183m, Phoenix New Media is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about Phoenix New Media.

See our latest analysis for Phoenix New Media

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Phoenix New Media?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Phoenix New Media already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in 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. 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 Phoenix New Media's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Phoenix New Media. Phoenix Media Investment (Holdings) Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 54% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.9% by the third-largest shareholder. Shuang Liu, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Phoenix New Media

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.

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 some shares in Phoenix New Media Limited. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$5.3m worth of the US$183m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though I generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 31% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Phoenix New Media. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 54% of Phoenix New Media stock. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Phoenix New Media better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Phoenix New Media .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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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