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the inst. own is 199%

Why it's larger than 100%? What is the meaning of this number?

Thanks,

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    The most obvious answer would be that the data publisher messed up. That happens all the time. It would be easier to find out for sure if you told us what company it is... – jjanes Sep 6 '14 at 22:31
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This can occur due to discrepancies in institutional reporting.

Let's say that XYZ Company has 20 million shares outstanding and Institution A owns all 20 million. In a shorting transaction, Institution B borrows 5 million of these shares from Institution A and sells them to Institution C. If both A and C claim ownership of the shares shorted by B, the institutional ownership of XYZ could be reported as 25 million shares (20 + 5), or 125% (25/20)

Regardless, a reported institutional owernship percentage of above 100 is very likely to have a extremely high rate of actual institutional ownership.

Source: Investopedia

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  • Thanks for the answer. Just wondering, does this indicate that the company is/gonna be somehow in a relatively good situation? – AGamePlayer Sep 8 '14 at 0:16
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    I wouldn't say this is a reporting discrepancy as much as it is an artifact of short sales. – Michael Nov 18 '16 at 19:24
  • It's a shame this site is for personal finance, because this leads to a follow-on question of what the implications are, in the above example, if Institution A itself winds up owning more than 100% of the company. – Michael Nov 18 '16 at 19:28

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