What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft's (ETR:BMW) Shares?

A look at the shareholders of Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BMW) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. 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.

Bayerische Motoren Werke is a pretty big company. It has a market capitalization of €59b. Normally institutions would own a significant portion of a company this size. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Bayerische Motoren Werke.

Check out our latest analysis for Bayerische Motoren Werke

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bayerische Motoren Werke?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Bayerische Motoren Werke 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Bayerische Motoren Werke, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Bayerische Motoren Werke is not owned by hedge funds. Susanne Klatten is currently the largest shareholder, with 19% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 8.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Stefan Quandt and AQTON SE are the second and third largest shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Bayerische Motoren Werke

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful €20b stake in this €59b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 34% stake in Bayerische Motoren Werke. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Bayerische Motoren Werke you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

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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