Recent uptick might appease Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) institutional owners after losing 9.3% over the past year

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Caterpillar's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 24 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Recent sales by insiders

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If you want to know who really controls Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 72% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors would appreciate the 4.1% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 9.3%.

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

See our latest analysis for Caterpillar

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Caterpillar?

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 Caterpillar. 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. 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 Caterpillar, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Caterpillar. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 9.8% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.7% and 7.4% of the stock.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 24 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Caterpillar

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Caterpillar Inc.. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$305m worth of shares. 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 27% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Caterpillar is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.

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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.