Every investor in Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C. (LON:FSTA) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of UK£436m, Fuller Smith & Turner is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see 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 Fuller Smith & Turner.

Check out our latest analysis for Fuller Smith & Turner

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fuller Smith & Turner?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Fuller Smith & Turner. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Fuller Smith & Turner, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 6.3% of Fuller Smith & Turner. 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. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 7.6% of shares outstanding. Lansdowne Partners Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 6.3% of common stock, and Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC holds about 3.0% of the company stock.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.