With 55% ownership of the shares, Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) is heavily dominated by institutional owners
Key Insights
Significantly high institutional ownership implies Westwood Holdings Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
51% of the business is held by the top 9 shareholders
Every investor in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 55% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Westwood Holdings Group, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for Westwood Holdings Group
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Westwood Holdings Group?
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.
Westwood Holdings Group 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. 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 Westwood Holdings Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. It would appear that 5.9% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are controlled by hedge funds. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Hoak & Co. is the largest shareholder with 7.5% of shares outstanding. Allspring Global Investments, LLC is the second largest shareholder owning 7.1% of common stock, and GAMCO Investors, Inc. holds about 6.8% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Brian Casey is the owner of 5.4% of the company's shares.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.
Insider Ownership Of Westwood Holdings Group
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.. Insiders own US$17m worth of shares in the US$100m company. We 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 15% stake in Westwood Holdings Group. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Private Equity Ownership
Private equity firms hold a 7.5% stake in Westwood Holdings Group. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Westwood Holdings Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Westwood Holdings Group (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .
If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.
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.
