Key Insights

• Significant control over Spark New Zealand by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions

• The top 25 shareholders own 39% of the company

• Insiders have bought recently

A look at the shareholders of Spark New Zealand Limited (NZSE:SPK) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 56% to be precise, is individual investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Following a 5.8% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 44% stock also took a hit.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Spark New Zealand.

Check out our latest analysis for Spark New Zealand

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Spark New Zealand?

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.

Spark New Zealand 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Spark New Zealand's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Spark New Zealand is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 10% of shares outstanding. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Private Banking and Investment Banking Investments is the second largest shareholder owning 8.4% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 4.2% of the company 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 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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.