Harold C. Goddijn TomTom N.V.'s (AMS:TOM2) CEO is the most bullish insider, and their stock value gained 8.6%last week

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over TomTom implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 5 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• Institutional ownership in TomTom is 18%

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Every investor in TomTom N.V. (AMS:TOM2) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 54% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 8.6% gain.

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

View our latest analysis for TomTom

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About TomTom?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in TomTom. 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 TomTom's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in TomTom. With a 13% stake, CEO Harold C. Goddijn is the largest shareholder. With 12% and 12% of the shares outstanding respectively, Corinne Goddijn-Vigreux and Peter-Frans Pauwels are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Corinne Goddijn-Vigreux is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

On looking further, we found that 54% 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.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of TomTom

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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the TomTom N.V. stock. This gives them a lot of power. Given it has a market cap of €680m, that means they have €367m worth of shares. 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 22% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over TomTom. 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 5.0%, 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.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - TomTom has 1 warning sign we think 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.