Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Limoneira's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions

• 50% of the business is held by the top 9 shareholders

• Insiders own 14% of Limoneira

Every investor in Limoneira Company (NASDAQ:LMNR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 58% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Limoneira, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Limoneira

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Limoneira?

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.

Limoneira already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Limoneira's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Limoneira. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 17% of shares outstanding. With 6.8% and 6.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and Peter Nolan are the second and third largest shareholders. Peter Nolan, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, CEO Harold Edwards is the owner of 1.5% of the company's shares.

We did some more digging and found that 9 of the top shareholders account for roughly 50% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.