Yahoo Finance After losing 27% in the past year, Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) institutional owners must be relieved by the recent gain
A look at the shareholders of Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 47% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 17% increase in share prices after a year of 27% losses as a sign that returns are likely to begin trending higher.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Westwood Holdings Group, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Westwood Holdings Group
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Westwood Holdings Group?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Westwood Holdings 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. 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 Westwood Holdings Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
It would appear that 16% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Our data shows that JCP Investment Management, LLC is the largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. With 7.2% and 6.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and DePrince, Race & Zollo, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Brian Casey is the owner of 4.9% of the company's shares.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.
Insider Ownership Of Westwood Holdings Group
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.. Insiders have a US$17m stake in this US$104m business. 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
With a 20% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Westwood Holdings Group. 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:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Westwood Holdings Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Westwood Holdings Group (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) .
If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.
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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