BARK, Inc.'s (NYSE:BARK) market cap touched US$283m last week, benefiting both retail investors who own 37% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over BARK by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 10 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Recent purchases by insiders

Every investor in BARK, Inc. (NYSE:BARK) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 37% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched US$283m last week, while institutions who own 29% also benefitted.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about BARK.

Check out our latest analysis for BARK

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About BARK?

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in BARK. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is RRE Ventures LLC with 12% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.6% and 6.2% of the stock. Henrik Werdelin, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Top Key Executive. In addition, we found that Matt Meeker, the CEO has 5.8% of the shares allocated to their name.

We did some more digging and found that 10 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of BARK

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of BARK, Inc.. Insiders own US$56m worth of shares in the US$283m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 37% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 12% stake in BARK. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with BARK .

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.