Suncorp Group Limited's (ASX:SUN) largest shareholders are individual investors with 60% ownership, institutions own 40%

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editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Tue, Sep 17, 2024, 3:41 PM 4 min read

If you want to know who really controls Suncorp Group Limited (ASX:SUN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 60% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, institutions make up 40% of the company’s shareholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Suncorp Group, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Suncorp Group

ownership-breakdown — ASX:SUN Ownership Breakdown September 17th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Suncorp Group?

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.

We can see that Suncorp Group 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. 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 Suncorp Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — ASX:SUN Earnings and Revenue Growth September 17th 2024

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Suncorp Group. The company's largest shareholder is State Street Global Advisors, Inc., with ownership of 7.1%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.7% and 5.8% of the stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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.

Insider Ownership Of Suncorp Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Suncorp Group Limited. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own AU$28m worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 60% of Suncorp Group shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Suncorp Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Suncorp Group .

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.