With 73% ownership in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN), institutional investors have a lot riding on the business

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Hawkins' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 14 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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If you want to know who really controls Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 73% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Last week’s 3.9% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. The one-year return on investment is currently 54% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Hawkins.

Check out our latest analysis for Hawkins

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hawkins?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Hawkins. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Hawkins' 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 Hawkins. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 15% of shares outstanding. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.0% of common stock, and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. holds about 4.8% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Patrick Hawkins, the CEO has 1.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 14 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Hawkins

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Hawkins, Inc.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own US$114m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 18% stake in Hawkins. 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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.