Applied Blockchain, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:APLD) largest shareholders are individual investors with 31% ownership, insiders own 27%
If you want to know who really controls Applied Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLD), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 31% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And individual insiders on the other hand have a 27% ownership in the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Applied Blockchain.
See our latest analysis for Applied Blockchain
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Applied Blockchain?
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.
Applied Blockchain 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 Applied Blockchain, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Applied Blockchain. Cummins Family Ltd is currently the largest shareholder, with 19% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Chen Guo and Xu Xin, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 7.9%. In addition, we found that Wesley Cummins, the CEO has 3.8% of the shares allocated to their name.
We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.
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 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 Applied Blockchain
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.
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 a reasonable proportion of Applied Blockchain, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$194m, and insiders have US$53m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 31% stake in Applied Blockchain. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Private Company Ownership
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 19%, of the company's shares. 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:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Applied Blockchain better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Applied Blockchain you should know about.
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.
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