09. Stockholders

09. Stockholders

9.1 List the top ten stockholders, along with the percentage of stock owned.
9.2 List stock holdings of top management and Board members.
9.3 Are there other stockholders who provide special points of leverage (i.e. unions, other employers)?
9.4 Is there any type of shareholder activism taking place in the target firm?

In a pub­licly traded com­pany, large stock­hold­ers may be as or more pow­er­ful than man­age­ment. While many stockholders are mutual funds and financial institutions it is not always the case.  For example in the Teamster campaign against Republic Services, a major trash firm, they discovered that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was a major stockholder.* Special attention should be given to retirement funds that hold stock as they may be important sources against the firm. With a growing concern about Corporate Social Responsibility, there has been growing shareholder activism around a number of campaigns.

One of the best sources for information about shareholders is Shareholder Tracker from Inclusive Development International (IDI) and the  University of Chicago Data Science Institute (DSI). You can use the filter function to find pension funds that have invested in specific firms.

Yahoo Finance provides basic information on major stockholders and holdings of management and board members, as well as recent insider trades. MSN Money provides similar information. Form DEF 14A (The Proxy Statement), available from the SEC’s EDGAR database, provides information on 5% stockholder and ownership by management and the board.

Little Sis allows you to search by individual, and shows how they connect to others in industry and government.

There has been a tremendous increase in shareholder activism over the past few years, with stockholders challenging firms in terms of their environmental and labor record, as well as their overall corporate responsibility. As You Sow provides a summary of shareholder activity. A general news search may also identify shareholder activism.

*The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has since sold its stock in Republic Services but the Foundation is also a major shareholder in Waste Management, Inc. another large trash firm.

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