Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in FuelCell Energy indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 38% ownership
• 44% of FuelCell Energy is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCEL) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 55% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 11% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 44% stock also took a hit.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About FuelCell Energy?

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.

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

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in FuelCell Energy. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 9.4% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.9% by the third-largest shareholder.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. 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 FuelCell Energy

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. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

Our information suggests that FuelCell Energy, Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. It appears that the board holds about US$1.6m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of US$497m. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 55% of FuelCell Energy shares. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

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. Be aware that FuelCell Energy is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.