Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 39% loss over the past year

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Beyond Meat implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 48% ownership
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

Every investor in Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 50% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

After a year of 39% losses, last week’s 15% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Beyond Meat.

View our latest analysis for Beyond Meat

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Beyond Meat?

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.

Beyond Meat 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 Beyond Meat, (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. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Beyond Meat. Parkwood LLC, Asset Management Arm is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.3% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.5% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO Ethan Brown is the owner of 3.1% of the company's shares.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 Beyond Meat

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Beyond Meat, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$258m, and insiders have US$14m worth of shares, in their own names. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 45% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Beyond Meat. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Beyond Meat better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Beyond Meat is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those can't be ignored...

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.