American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) is largely controlled by institutional shareholders who own 78% of the company
In This Article:
Key Insights
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Institutions' substantial holdings in American States Water implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
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The top 11 shareholders own 51% of the company
Every investor in American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 78% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about American States Water.
Check out our latest analysis for American States Water
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About American States Water?
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.
American States Water already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 American States Water's 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. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in American States Water. The company's largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc., with ownership of 18%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 13% and 5.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 11 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.
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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.