Institutional investors are C&C Group plc's (LON:CCR) biggest bettors and were rewarded after last week's UK£42m market cap gain

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies C&C Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 5 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality.

A look at the shareholders of C&C Group plc (LON:CCR) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 87% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained UK£42m in market cap last week. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 17%.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of C&C Group, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for C&C Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About C&C Group?

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.

We can see that C&C Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 C&C Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in C&C Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Brandes Investment Partners, LP with 16% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 10% of the shares outstanding respectively, Artemis Investment Management LLP and Fidelity International Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders.

On looking further, we found that 52% of the shares are owned by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of C&C Group

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that C&C Group plc insiders own under 1% of the company. It seems the board members have no more than UK£989k worth of shares in the UK£665m company. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 13% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over C&C 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand C&C Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for C&C Group that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.