Among the many noteworthy statistics highlighted in the latest Broadridge/PWC ProxyPulse report based on analysis of 3,844 annual meetings held between January 1 and June 30, 2020, are these:
- As we have reported previously (see "Virtual Shareholder Meeting Stats"), the number of virtual shareholder meetings spiked year-over-year, from 248 in 2019 to 1,494 in 2020.
- Institutional and retail ownership were generally on par with last year at 71% and 29%, respectively.
- Voting participation for institutional shareholders increased year-over-year from 90% in 2019 to 92% in 2020. Retail shareholder voting participation held steady at 28%.
- Largely attributable to institutional investor support, overall average support for E&S proposals bounced back to 2018 levels at 27% this year compared to 25% in 2019.
- Support for political spending proposals (particularly by institutional investors) continued to rise to an average record-breaking (since tracking began in 2013) 36% in 2020 compared to 31% last year.
- Among the 453 directors who failed to attain majority voter support, institutional investor support lagged retail support by a huge margin - 31% institutional investor support vs. 71% retail support. Similarly, institutional support for the 1,569 directors who received less than 70% support was 51% compared to 81% retail support.
See the Key Takeaways and additional information & resources on our Proxy Season 2020 page. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!