Key Insights

Spark New Zealand's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public 36% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders Insiders have been buying lately

If you want to know who really controls Spark New Zealand Limited (NZSE:SPK), 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 retail investors with 59% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, institutions make up 41% of the company’s shareholders. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Spark New Zealand.

See our latest analysis for Spark New Zealand  ownership-breakdown

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

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.

We can see that Spark New Zealand does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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. earnings-and-revenue-growth

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Spark New Zealand. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 10.0% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.9% by the third-largest shareholder.



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 Spark New Zealand

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Spark New Zealand Limited in their own names. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own NZ$7.4m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can  click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 59% stake in Spark New Zealand, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. 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 Spark New Zealand better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted  4 warning signs for Spark New Zealand you should be aware of, and 2 of them make us uncomfortable.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this freereport on analyst forecasts.

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.