Advertisement
U.S. markets open in 3 hours 17 minutes
  • S&P Futures

    5,304.50
    -3.75 (-0.07%)
     
  • Dow Futures

    40,143.00
    -1.00 (-0.00%)
     
  • Nasdaq Futures

    18,483.75
    -20.00 (-0.11%)
     
  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,136.00
    -2.40 (-0.11%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    81.92
    +0.57 (+0.70%)
     
  • Gold

    2,195.10
    +4.50 (+0.21%)
     
  • Silver

    24.58
    -0.17 (-0.69%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0784
    -0.0046 (-0.42%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.1960
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • Vix

    13.00
    +0.22 (+1.72%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2604
    -0.0034 (-0.27%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    151.4440
    +0.1980 (+0.13%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,625.89
    +561.30 (+0.80%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,974.39
    +42.41 (+0.53%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

Do Institutions Own Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) Shares?

The big shareholder groups in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of US$6.6b, Alaska Air Group is rather large. We'd expect to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are usually well known to retail investors, too. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Alaska Air Group.

See our latest analysis for Alaska Air Group

ownership-breakdown
ownership-breakdown

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Alaska Air Group?

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 Alaska Air Group. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Alaska Air Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
earnings-and-revenue-growth

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Alaska Air Group. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. With 6.3% and 4.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and Victory Capital Management Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 24 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 Alaska Air Group

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 less than 1% of Alaska Air Group, Inc.. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around US$22m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 23% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Alaska Air Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Alaska Air Group .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

Advertisement