Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Zeta Global Holdings' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 12 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

A look at the shareholders of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (NYSE:ZETA) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 69% to be precise, is institutions. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained US$335m in market cap last week. One-year return to shareholders is currently 90% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Zeta Global Holdings.

See our latest analysis for Zeta Global Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zeta Global Holdings?

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.

Zeta Global Holdings 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 Zeta Global Holdings' 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. Zeta Global Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO David Steinberg with 11% of shares outstanding. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.1% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 6.8% of the company stock.

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 Zeta Global Holdings

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Zeta Global Holdings Corp.. It has a market capitalization of just US$4.4b, and insiders have US$827m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 13% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Zeta Global Holdings. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Zeta Global Holdings .

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.