NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge
Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) and PwC's Governance Insights
Center today released their ProxyPulse™ report for the 2016
proxy season analyzing data from 4,200 U.S. public company annual
shareholder meetings held between January
1 and June 30, 2016.
According to the report, companies have been seeking a greater
understanding of their retail shareholder base, including key
demographic attributes. Some of the findings from the report
include:
- People under the age of 40 years old represent 20 percent of
U.S. shareholders compared to 31 percent of the U.S.
population
- 22 percent of U.S. shareholders have a graduate degree,
compared to 11 percent of the U.S. population
- Sixty percent of U.S. shareholders are active investors
compared to 30 percent of the U.S. population
- 38 percent of U.S. shareholders are Republican while 31 percent
of U.S. shareholders are Democrats
The ProxyPulse analysis showed on average, institutions voted 91
percent of their shares, while retail investors voted only 28
percent, leaving 24 billion retail shares unvoted.
"A number of companies that have come under pressure over the
past few months from large institutional investors or activist
investors have looked to target an untapped segment for many –
retail shareholders," said Paul
DeNicola, managing director of PwC's Governance Insights
Center. "This latest edition of the ProxyPulse report provides new
data on the demographic makeup of retail shareholders as companies
look to better understand their entire shareholder base."
Other highlights from the report include:
- Of the 69 proxy access proposals that went to vote, 60 percent
achieved majority support; retail shareholders cast 85 percent of
their voted shares against proxy access
- Institutional ownership of shares in street name increased to
70 percent from 68 percent for the same period last year
- While average shareholder support for directors was 96 percent,
382 directors failed to obtain majority support this season
- For say-on-pay, approximately 11 percent of companies did not
surpass the 70 percent shareholder threshold this season
"Say-on-pay continues to foster discussion between companies and
their shareholders, as there was more direct dialogue between
directors and investors about executive compensation," said
Chuck Callan, senior vice president,
regulatory affairs, Broadridge. "Yet, the ProxyPulse™ report shows
some public companies continue to fall short of important
benchmarks for say-on pay-support, " he concluded.
About ProxyPulse
ProxyPulse is based in part on Broadridge' s processing of shares
held in street name, which accounts for over 80 percent of all
shares outstanding of U.S. publicly-listed companies. Shareholder
voting trends during a proxy season represent a snapshot in time
and may not be predictive of full-year results.
ProxyPulse is a collaboration between Broadridge, the leading
provider of investor communications solutions and PwC's Governance
Insights Center, a group that supports directors and investors with
governance knowledge. Visit ProxyPulse.com to access the full
report.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is the leading
provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions
for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and other corporations.
Broadridge' s investor and customer communications, securities
processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their
capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to
increase their focus on core business activities. With more than 50
years of experience, Broadridge' s infrastructure underpins proxy
voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds
in North America and processes on
average $5 trillion in equity and
fixed income trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately
10,000 associates in 16 countries.
For more information about Broadridge, please visit
www.broadridge.com.
About PwC US
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve
important problems. We're a network of firms in 157 countries with
more than 208,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in
assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more and tell us
what matters to you, please visit: www.pwc.com.
PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member
firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see
www.pwc.com/structure for further details.
About PwC's Governance Insights Center
PwC's
Governance Insights Center supports directors and investors
with governance knowledge to answer tough questions and tackle
complex challenges. Learn from our network of subject-matter
experts, business leaders, and experienced peers as they share
their insights and the latest thinking on current issues. Beyond
governance, we help directors and investors better understand new
financial accounting standards so they can make better oversight
and investment decisions. The center connects all the dots for a
more complete perspective. For more information, please visit:
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/governance-insights-center
Media Contacts:
Jenna J. Focarino
1-212-681-1700 ext.115
jfocarino@torrenzano.com
Stephanie C. Corzett
PwC US
1-617-530-4977
stephanie.c.corzett@pwc.com
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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.