Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Proto Labs implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price

• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership

• Recent purchases by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE:PRLB), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 86% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Proto Labs.

See our latest analysis for Proto Labs

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Proto Labs?

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.

Proto Labs already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Proto Labs' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Proto Labs. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 17% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 12% and 7.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.