With 65% ownership, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) boasts of strong institutional backing

If you want to know who really controls National Health Investors, Inc. (), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 65% 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).

Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about National Health Investors.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About National Health Investors?

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.

We can see that National Health Investors does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 National Health Investors, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in National Health Investors. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 15%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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.

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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

We can see that insiders own shares in National Health Investors, Inc.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own US$107m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can

With a 31% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over National Health Investors. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand National Health Investors better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.

Find out whether National Health Investors is potentially over or undervalued by checking out our comprehensive analysis, which includes