To get a sense of who is truly in control of Viemed Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:VMD), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 61% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And as as result, institutional investors reaped the most rewards after the company's stock price gained 12% last week. The one-year return on investment is currently 4.0% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Viemed Healthcare.
NasdaqCM:VMD Ownership Breakdown January 26th 2024
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Viemed Healthcare?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
We can see that Viemed Healthcare 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. 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 Viemed Healthcare's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
NasdaqCM:VMD Earnings and Revenue Growth January 26th 2024
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. It would appear that 5.3% of Viemed Healthcare shares are controlled by hedge funds. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Thrivent Investment Management Inc. is the largest shareholder with 8.8% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.7% and 5.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Casey Hoyt, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.
Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.
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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.
Insider Ownership Of Viemed Healthcare
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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Viemed Healthcare, Inc.. Insiders have a US$41m stake in this US$321m business. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 21% stake in Viemed Healthcare. 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:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.
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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.