Joby Aviation, Inc.'s (NYSE:JOBY) institutional investors lost 7.6% last week but have benefitted from longer-term gains

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Joby Aviation's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• The top 7 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Insider ownership in Joby Aviation is 21%

If you want to know who really controls Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 34% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$6.3b last week. However, the 46% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. But they would probably be wary of future losses.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Joby Aviation

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Joby Aviation?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Joby Aviation 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. 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 Joby Aviation'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 Joby Aviation. With a 12% stake, CEO JoeBen Bevirt is the largest shareholder. With 9.5% and 7.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Toyota Motor Corporation and Paul Sciarra are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Paul Sciarra is also a Chairman of the Board, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

We did some more digging and found that 7 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.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Joby Aviation

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

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 Joby Aviation, Inc.. Insiders own US$1.3b worth of shares in the US$6.3b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 27% 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 5.3% stake in Joby Aviation. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 11% of Joby Aviation stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Joby Aviation (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .

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.