After losing 26% in the past year, British Land Company Plc (LON:BLND) institutional owners must be relieved by the recent gain
Key Insights
Significantly high institutional ownership implies British Land's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
A total of 16 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
Every investor in British Land Company Plc (LON:BLND) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 81% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Last week's UK£146m market cap gain would probably be appreciated by institutional investors, especially after a year of 26% losses.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about British Land.
View our latest analysis for British Land
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About British Land?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
British Land already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at British Land's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. British Land is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 8.6% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.0% and 5.4% of the stock.
Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 16 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of British Land
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of British Land Company Plc. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own UK£2.5m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over British Land. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand British Land better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for British Land you should know about.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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