Who Owns Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN)?
In this article, I’m going to take a look at Blue Apron Holdings Inc’s (NYSE:APRN) latest ownership structure, a non-fundamental factor which is important, but remains a less discussed subject among investors. Ownership structure has been found to have an impact on shareholder returns in both short- and long-term. Differences in ownership structure of companies can have a profound effect on how management’s incentives are aligned with shareholder returns, which is why we’ll take a moment to analyse APRN’s shareholder registry.
View our latest analysis for Blue Apron Holdings
Institutional Ownership
With an institutional ownership of 19.73%, APRN can face volatile stock price movements if institutions execute block trades on the open market, more so, when there are relatively small amounts of shares available on the market to trade However, as not all institutions are alike, such high volatility events, especially in the short-term, have been more frequently linked to active market participants like hedge funds. In the case of APRN, investors need not worry about such volatility considering active hedge funds don’t have a significant stake. However, we should dig deeper into APRN’s ownership structure and find out how other key ownership classes can affect its investment profile.
Insider Ownership
I find insiders are an important group of stakeholders, who are directly involved in making key decisions related to the use of capital. In essence, insider ownership is more about the alignment of shareholders’ interests with the management. A major group of owners of APRN is individual insiders, sitting with a hefty 40.90% stake in the company. Broadly, insider ownership of this level has been found to negatively affect companies with consistently low PE ratio (underperforming). And a positive impact has been seen on companies with a high PE ratio (outperforming). It’s also interesting to learn what APRN insiders have been doing with their shareholdings lately. While insider buying is possibly a sign of a positive outlook for the company, selling doesn’t necessarily indicate a negative outlook as they may be selling to meet personal financial needs.
General Public Ownership
A substantial ownership of 15.35% in APRN is held by the general public. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power in deciding on major policy decisions such as executive compensation, appointment of directors and acquisitions of businesses.
Private Equity Ownership
With a stake of 24.01%, private equity firms form another important class of owners in APRN. With a stake of 24.01%, they can influence APRN’s key policy decisions. This is an encouraging sign for investors as these investors tend to be active strategist in companies, focusing on increasing operational and capital efficiency for the firm.
Next Steps:
APRN’s considerably high level of institutional ownership calls for further analysis into its margin of safety. This will allow investors to reduce the impact of non-fundamental factors, such as volatile block trading impact on their portfolio value. However, if you are building an investment case for APRN, ownership structure alone should not dictate your decision to buy or sell the stock. Rather, you should be looking at fundamental drivers such as the intrinsic valuation, which is a key driver of Blue Apron Holdings’s share price. I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for APRN’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for APRN’s outlook.
Financial Health: Are APRN’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
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.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
