Do Institutions Own Helios Underwriting Plc (LON:HUW) Shares?

Simply Wall St

Tue, Feb 23, 2021, 5:08 PM 4 min read

A look at the shareholders of Helios Underwriting Plc (LON:HUW) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

With a market capitalization of UK£71m, Helios Underwriting is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Helios Underwriting.

Check out our latest analysis for Helios Underwriting

ownership-breakdown — AIM:HUW Ownership Breakdown February 24th 2021

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Helios Underwriting?

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.

We can see that Helios Underwriting does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Helios Underwriting's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — AIM:HUW Earnings and Revenue Growth February 24th 2021

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Helios Underwriting. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Nigel Hanbury with 28% of shares outstanding. Polar Capital Holdings plc is the second largest shareholder owning 15% of common stock, and Investec Wealth & Investment Limited holds about 11% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Helios Underwriting

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Helios Underwriting Plc. Insiders have a UK£26m stake in this UK£71m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 13% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Helios Underwriting. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 16%, of the Helios Underwriting stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Helios Underwriting better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Helios Underwriting (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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