What you need to know about Abrdn PLC (LON: ABDN) investor composition

If you want to know who really controls Abrdn PLC (LON: ABDN), you have to look at the composition of the share registry. Insiders often own a large portion of younger, smaller companies, while large companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership.

With a market cap of £ 6.3 billion, Abrdn is pretty big. We would expect to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are also usually well known to private investors. In the following graphic we can see that institutions stand out in the share register. Let’s take a closer look at what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Abrdn.

See our latest analysis for Abrdn

What does institutional ownership tell us about Abrdn?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they are often more enthusiastic about a stock once it has been included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutes on their register, especially as they grow.

Abrdn already has institutes in the share register. In fact, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility with professional investors. But we cannot rely on that alone, because institutions sometimes make bad investments, as everyone does. It is not uncommon for the stock price to drop sharply when two large institutional investors are trying to sell a stock at the same time. So it’s worth checking Abrdn’s profit history so far (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider as well.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together they are likely to have a major impact on board decisions. We find that hedge funds do not have a sensible investment in Abrdn. If we look at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 7.1% of the shares outstanding. In context, the second largest shareholder holds approximately 4.6% of the outstanding shares, followed by a 4.0% stake from the third largest shareholder.

A closer look at our ownership data reveals that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small shareholders where no single shareholder has a majority.

While studying the institutional ownership of a company can add value to your research, researching analyst recommendations to get a deeper understanding of a stock’s expected performance is also good practice. Quite a few analysts cover the stock so you can easily look at its forecasted growth.

Inside property of Abrdn

The definition of corporate insider can be subjective and varies depending on the legal system. Our data reflects individual insiders and at least includes board members. Management ultimately replies to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be board members, especially when they are founders or CEOs.

I generally think insider ownership is a good thing. In some cases, however, it makes it difficult for other shareholders to hold the board responsible for decisions.

Our data suggests that insiders own less than 1% of Abrdn PLC in their own name. It’s a very large company, so it would be surprising if insiders own a large chunk of the company. Although their stake is less than 1%, we can see that the directors together own shares valued at £ 6.9 million (at current prices). It’s good to see board members own stocks, but it might be worth checking to see if those insiders have bought.

General public property

With a share of 43%, the public has some influence on Abrdn. While this size of ownership is substantial, it may not be enough to change company policy if the decision does not coincide with other major shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is worth considering a company’s different groups of owners, there are other factors that are even more important. For example we discovered 3 warning signs for abandonment (1 shouldn’t be ignored!) To Consider Before Investing Here.

Ultimately the future is the most important. You can access it free Report on analyst forecast for the company.

Note: The numbers in this article are calculated using data for the past twelve months, which refers to the twelve month period ending on the last day of the month in which the financial statements are dated. This may not match the figures in the annual financial statements.

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