A look at the shareholders of Liberty Broadband Corporation (NASDAQ:LBRD.K) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Dont tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

With a market capitalization of US$24b, Liberty Broadband is rather large. We'd expect to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are usually well known to retail investors, too. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Liberty Broadband.

View our latest analysis for Liberty Broadband

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Liberty Broadband. 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 Liberty Broadband, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth

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 Liberty Broadband. Our data shows that The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 8.9% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.1% and 3.9% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Gregory Maffei directly holds 0.007892900000000001 of the total shares outstanding.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

Story continues

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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Liberty Broadband Corporation. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own US$1.2b worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

The general public holds a 27% stake in LBRD.K. 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.

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Liberty Broadband better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Liberty Broadband you should know about.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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Link:

What Kind Of Investors Own Most Of Liberty Broadband Corporation (NASDAQ:LBRD.K)? - Yahoo Finance