Both retail investors who control a good portion of Veritone, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERI) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 11% decrease

Key Insights

• Significant control over Veritone by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 42% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Insiders have sold recently

A look at the shareholders of Veritone, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERI) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 56% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 11% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 25% stock also took a hit.

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

View our latest analysis for Veritone

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Veritone?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Veritone. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Veritone, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Veritone. Our data shows that Esousa Group Holdings LLC is the largest shareholder with 9.9% of shares outstanding. Banta Asset Management LP is the second largest shareholder owning 7.7% of common stock, and Ryan Steelberg holds about 6.1% of the company stock. Ryan Steelberg, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Veritone

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Veritone, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$13m worth of the US$148m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though we generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 56% of Veritone. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 10.0%, of the Veritone stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Veritone (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

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.