Key Insights

• SurgePays' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

• The top 25 shareholders own 35% of the company

• 25% of SurgePays is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls SurgePays, Inc. (NASDAQ:SURG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 58% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 28% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but insiders who own 25% stock also took a hit.

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

Check out our latest analysis for SurgePays

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SurgePays?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

SurgePays already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 SurgePays' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

SurgePays is not owned by hedge funds. With a 26% stake, CEO Kevin Cox is the largest shareholder. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 2.7% of common stock, and David May holds about 0.9% of the company stock. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, David May is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.