What Type Of Shareholders Own The Most Number of Rural Funds Group (ASX:RFF) Shares?

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Simply Wall St

Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 10:53 PM 4 min read

A look at the shareholders of Rural Funds Group (ASX:RFF) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

Rural Funds Group is a smaller company with a market capitalization of AU$812m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Rural Funds Group.

View our latest analysis for Rural Funds Group

ownership-breakdown — ASX:RFF Ownership Breakdown September 21st 2020

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Rural Funds 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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Rural Funds Group. 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 Rural Funds Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — ASX:RFF Earnings and Revenue Growth September 21st 2020

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Rural Funds Group. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 9.6% of shares outstanding. With 5.3% and 5.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Netwealth Investments Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company, Limited are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO David Bryant is the owner of 1.0% of the company's shares.

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.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Rural Funds Group

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

I can report that insiders do own shares in Rural Funds Group. It has a market capitalization of just AU$812m, and insiders have AU$13m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are mostly retail investors, collectively hold 59% of Rural Funds Group shares. This level of ownership gives retail investors the power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Rural Funds Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Rural Funds Group (1 can't be ignored) that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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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