Small time investors have reduced their shares in Australia’s top 300 companies according to a new study.
Research by the University of Melbourne’s Dr Carole Comerton-Forde for the Australasian Investor Relations Association (AIRA) found that over the decade leading to 2011, small time investors (in this study, those owning less than 10,000 shares) have reduced their holdings in ASX 300 company shares by one third to 9.9%.
Institutions (including superannuations funds and offshore investors) now account for 90.1% of the issued capital of Australia’s top 300 companies.
While retail investors are more concentrated with larger companies in the ASX 20 index, 97.1% being small shareholders, they only own 25.2% of shares.
(Originally printed in The Conversation).
Perhaps one reason why active fund managers struggle to outperform the index is not because they are not talented or have the requisite skills, but quite the opposite: there are so many well-educated and smart analysts and fund managers working in wealth management, and they own 90% of the stocks, that it is difficult for any one to gain an edge over the others.