Kaltura, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:KLTR) 11% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 41% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private equity firms in Kaltura indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 52% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• 25% of Kaltura is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Kaltura, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLTR), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 41% stake, private equity firms possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While institutions, who own 25% shares weren’t spared from last week’s US$29m market cap drop, private equity firms as a group suffered the maximum losses

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Kaltura.

View our latest analysis for Kaltura

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Kaltura?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Kaltura. 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 Kaltura's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Kaltura. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is .406 Ventures, LLC with 12% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 12% and 10% of the stock. Furthermore, CEO Ron Yekutiel is the owner of 5.0% of the company's shares.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 Kaltura

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Kaltura, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$22m worth of the US$240m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 24% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Kaltura. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 41% stake in Kaltura. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. 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.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Kaltura has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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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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.