Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, RELX's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions

• The top 25 shareholders own 41% of the company

• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls RELX PLC (LON:REL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 69% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

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

See our latest analysis for RELX

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About RELX?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in RELX. 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. 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 RELX's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. RELX is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 9.9% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 4.8% and 2.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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.