Yahoo Finance Asana, Inc.'s (NYSE:ASAN) insiders are still the largest shareholders with 64% stake despite recent sales
A look at the shareholders of Asana, Inc. (NYSE:ASAN) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 64% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Insiders own the top position in the company’s share registry despite recent sales and as a result, were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 9.7% gain.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Asana, beginning with the chart below.
Check out our latest analysis for Asana
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Asana?
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.
We can see that Asana does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Asana's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Asana. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Dustin Moskovitz with 53% of shares outstanding. This implies that they possess majority interests and have significant control over the company. Investors usually consider it a good sign when the company leadership has such a significant stake, as this is widely perceived to increase the chance that the management will act in the best interests of the company. Justin Rosenstein is the second largest shareholder owning 9.7% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 3.3% of the company stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Justin Rosenstein is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Asana
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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Asana, Inc.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means insiders have a very meaningful US$2.2b stake in this US$3.4b business. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if they have been selling down their stake.
General Public Ownership
With a 11% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Asana. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Asana that you should be aware of before investing here.
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.
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.
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