What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Ituran Location and Control Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:ITRN) Shares?

Simply Wall St

Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 6:26 AM 4 min read

The big shareholder groups in Ituran Location and Control Ltd. (NASDAQ:ITRN) have power over the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

Ituran Location and Control is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of US$506m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about Ituran Location and Control.

See our latest analysis for Ituran Location and Control

ownership-breakdown — NasdaqGS:ITRN Ownership Breakdown June 5th 2022

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ituran Location and Control?

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 Ituran Location and Control. 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 Ituran Location and Control's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — NasdaqGS:ITRN Earnings and Revenue Growth June 5th 2022

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. It looks like hedge funds own 12% of Ituran Location and Control shares. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Moked Ituran Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 20% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 16% and 8.0% of the stock.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 51% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Ituran Location and Control

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Ituran Location and Control Ltd. in their own names. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It appears that the board holds about US$910k worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of US$506m. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 10% stake in Ituran Location and Control. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 20%, of the company's shares. 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:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Ituran Location and Control that you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.