What Percentage Of Barry Callebaut AG (VTX:BARN) Shares Do Insiders Own?

If you want to know who really controls Barry Callebaut AG (VTX:BARN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

Barry Callebaut is a pretty big company. It has a market capitalization of CHF11b. Normally institutions would own a significant portion of a company this size. In the chart below, we can see that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Barry Callebaut.

View our latest analysis for Barry Callebaut

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Barry Callebaut?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Barry Callebaut. 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 Barry Callebaut's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Barry Callebaut is not owned by hedge funds. Jacobs Holding AG is currently the largest shareholder, with 40% of shares outstanding. Renata Jacobs is the second largest shareholder owning 5.0% of common stock, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board holds about 3.7% of the company stock.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 52% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Barry Callebaut

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Barry Callebaut AG. Insiders own CHF668m worth of shares (at current prices). I sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Barry Callebaut. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 40% stake in Barry Callebaut. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Barry Callebaut better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Barry Callebaut , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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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