51% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Wittington Investments, Limited)
If you want to know who really controls Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
And individual investors on the other hand have a 28% ownership in the company.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Loblaw Companies.
Check out our latest analysis for Loblaw Companies
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Loblaw Companies. 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. 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 Loblaw Companies' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Loblaw Companies. Our data shows that Wittington Investments, Limited is the largest shareholder with 51% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 1.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.8% by the third-largest shareholder.
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.
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.