What You Need To Know About New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership's (NYSEMKT:NEN) Investor Composition

If you want to know who really controls New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership (NYSEMKT:NEN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of US$186m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions don't own many shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership.

See our latest analysis for New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership?

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.

Since institutions own only a small portion of New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But it's clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership's case, its Chief Financial Officer, Jameson Brown, is the largest shareholder, holding 33% of shares outstanding. With 7.3% and 4.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Ronald Brown and Maura Brown are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Ronald Brown is also President, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

Our studies suggest that the top 14 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership. It has a market capitalization of just US$186m, and insiders have US$84m 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

The general public -- mostly retail investors -- own 51% of New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership. With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to decline an acquisition or merger that may not improve profitability.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for New England Realty Associates Limited Partnership you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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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