Key Insights
-
Significant control over Bell Financial Group by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
-
51% of the business is held by the top 4 shareholders
If you want to know who really controls Bell Financial Group Limited (ASX:BFG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 49% to be precise, is private companies. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
And individual investors on the other hand have a 39% ownership in the company.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bell Financial Group.
See our latest analysis for Bell Financial Group
What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bell Financial Group?
Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.
There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Bell Financial Group might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Bell Financial Group. Our data shows that Bell Group Holdings Pty Limited is the largest shareholder with 46% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 2.0% and 1.7% of the stock. Alastair Provan, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.
On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.
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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.
Insider Ownership Of Bell Financial Group
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.