CIMB Group Holdings Berhad's (KLSE:CIMB) institutional investors lost 6.6% over the past week but have profited from longer-term gains

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, CIMB Group Holdings Berhad's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 55% ownership
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (KLSE:CIMB), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 57% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to RM84b last week. However, the 32% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. They should, however, be mindful of further losses in the future.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad.

View our latest analysis for CIMB Group Holdings Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CIMB Group Holdings Berhad?

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 CIMB Group Holdings Berhad 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. 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 CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. CIMB Group Holdings Berhad is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Khazanah Nasional Berhad, with ownership of 22%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 17% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 10% by the third-largest shareholder.

On looking further, we found that 55% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

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

Insider Ownership Of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 CIMB Group Holdings Berhad insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own RM12m worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for CIMB Group Holdings Berhad you should be aware of.

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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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.