United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 7.6% loss over the past year
A look at the shareholders of United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 60% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
After a year of 7.6% losses, last week’s 17% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a likely sign that returns might start trending higher.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of United Airlines Holdings, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for United Airlines Holdings
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About United Airlines Holdings?
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.
We can see that United Airlines Holdings does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 United Airlines Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in United Airlines Holdings. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.5% and 5.1% of the 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 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of United Airlines Holdings
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of United Airlines Holdings, Inc.. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$53m worth of shares. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
With a 40% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over United Airlines Holdings. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand United Airlines Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - United Airlines Holdings has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report 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.
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