Yahoo Finance Institutional investors may adopt severe steps after Global Payments Inc.'s (NYSE:GPN) latest 11% drop adds to a year losses
Key Insights
Institutions' substantial holdings in Global Payments implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
The top 16 shareholders own 51% of the company
If you want to know who really controls Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 89% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
And so it follows that institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$26b last week after a 11% drop in the share price. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 21% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Also referred to as "smart money", institutions have a lot of sway over how a stock's price moves. Hence, if weakness in Global Payments' share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Global Payments, beginning with the chart below.
Check out our latest analysis for Global Payments
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Global Payments?
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 Global Payments does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Global Payments' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Global Payments is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 10%. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.6% of common stock, and Wellington Management Group LLP holds about 5.7% of the company stock.
Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 16 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.
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. 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 Global Payments
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Global Payments Inc.. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own US$242m of stock. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 10% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Global Payments better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Global Payments has 4 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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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