With 61% ownership in Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FET), institutional investors have a lot riding on the business

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Forum Energy Technologies' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 15 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

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A look at the shareholders of Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FET) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 61% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

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 128% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Forum Energy Technologies.

View our latest analysis for Forum Energy Technologies

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Forum Energy Technologies?

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 Forum Energy Technologies 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Forum Energy Technologies, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

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 7.5% of Forum Energy Technologies 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. The company's largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc., with ownership of 7.7%. Keyframe Capital Partners, L.P. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.5% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 5.5% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Neal Lux, the CEO has 1.9% of the shares allocated to their name.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 52% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Forum Energy Technologies

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 Forum Energy Technologies, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$27m worth of stock in the US$363m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.