Yahoo Finance Institutional owners may consider drastic measures as BT Group plc's (LON:BT.A) recent UK£459m drop adds to long-term losses
Key Insights
Institutions' substantial holdings in BT Group implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
51% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
Every investor in BT Group plc (LON:BT.A) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 38% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
As a result, institutional investors endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by UK£459m. The recent loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 25% for stockholders, may not sit well with this group of investors. Also referred to as "smart money", institutions have a lot of sway over how a stock's price moves. As a result, if the downtrend continues, institutions may face pressures to sell BT Group, which might have negative implications on individual investors.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about BT Group.
View our latest analysis for BT Group
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About BT Group?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
We can see that BT Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see BT Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in BT Group. The company's largest shareholder is Patrick Drahi, with ownership of 25%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 12% and 5.5% of the stock.
We also observed that the top 6 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of BT Group
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of BT Group plc. It has a market capitalization of just UK£10b, and insiders have UK£2.6b worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over BT Group. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Private Company Ownership
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 6.2%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.
Public Company Ownership
Public companies currently own 12% of BT Group stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand BT Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that BT Group is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...
If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.
