Individual investors invested in BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BBAI) copped the brunt of last week's US$470m market cap decline

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in BigBear.ai Holdings indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 41% ownership
• Insiders have been selling lately

If you want to know who really controls BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BBAI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 56% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to US$2.1b last week, individual investors would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

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

See our latest analysis for BigBear.ai Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About BigBear.ai Holdings?

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.

BigBear.ai Holdings already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at BigBear.ai Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in BigBear.ai Holdings. The company's largest shareholder is AE Industrial Partners, LP, with ownership of 26%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 3.4% and 2.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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

Insider Ownership Of BigBear.ai Holdings

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around US$46m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 56% of BigBear.ai Holdings. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 26%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. 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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for BigBear.ai Holdings (2 are a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.