Among the many noteworthy statistics and trends highlighted in Broadridge’s ProxyPulse report based on the firm’s analysis of annual meetings held January 1 – June 30 (H1) for each of the past five proxy seasons are these noteworthy and infrequently reported stats:
- Institutional and retail ownership have held relatively steady, although institutional investor ownership increased to a 5-year high of 71% compared to last year’s five-year low of 68.3%, whereas retail investor ownership declined from 31.7% in 2024 to a five-year low of 29% this year
- Retail investor voting declined to a nine-year low of 28%, while institutional investor participation declined to a 10-year low of 76.6%, which Broadridge attributes largely to reduced voting by smaller institutional investors, particularly at small- and micro-cap companies.
- Virtual shareholder meetings (VSM) remained popular with a record 1,931 VSMs held over H1 2025; of those, 93% accommodated “live” questions and 81% allowed viewing by non-shareholder guests.
The report also covers shareholder proposal, director election, and say-on-pay trends.