Well, if you have a 401 (k), IRA or pension, then chances are US oil and gas company stock is part of that investment strategy. According to a study released today, 65.5% of US-based oil and gas company shares are owned by individual investors mostly as part of pension funds or retirement accounts.

The study sponsored by trade group American Petroleum Institute was released ahead of next week’s corporate earnings announcements, but also comes at a time when calls for fossil fuel divestment are mounting. Institutional investment fund managers, like those in charge of pension resources, are in the difficult position of finding opportunities that provide returns needed to support beneficiaries for decades, while also balancing the “existential risks” associated with climate change.

Stranded asset risk is the idea that mandated carbon emissions reductions could leave fossil fuel-heavy businesses without a market for their products, or at least impact their business to the point where it’s no longer attractive to invest due to sub-par returns.

For additional Breaking Energy coverage of this issue, read “Not on My Balance Sheet: Climate Change, Fossil Fuels and Stranded Assets.”

The API-sponsored study did not focus on or cover fossil fuel divestment, but the analysis highlights the challenge institutional investors would face if they completely divested holdings in US-based oil and gas companies, not to mention coal companies, utilities and other enterprises with profits tied to fossil fuels.

“In 2014, individual investors who are not company executives or directors own 65.5 percent of the shares of U.S.-based, publicly traded oil and natural gas companies, measured by the value of those shares. Most of those shares are held in pension plans and retirement accounts” – Who Owns America’s Oil and Natural Gas Companies: A 2014 Update

“It’s [fossil fuel company divestment] a symbolic act not a real act,” Robert J. Shapiro – one of the report’s authors – told Breaking Energy on a media call held to announce the analysis. He went on to say that divestment on behalf of institutional investors would have little or no impact on oil company share prices. That’s because if endowments, pension funds and other asset managers unwound their positions in these companies and stock prices decreased as a result, it would only create buying opportunities for other investors, as the underlying value of the companies would not change.

That would appear mostly true in the absence of major regulatory changes that put a price on carbon or otherwise negatively impact fossil fuel-related businesses, which is exactly what the divestment movement is working to achieve.