Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in 3i Group implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price

• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership

• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

To get a sense of who is truly in control of 3i Group plc (LON:III), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 82% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about 3i Group.

View our latest analysis for 3i Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About 3i Group?

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 3i Group 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 3i Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. 3i Group is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 9.3% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.3% and 2.9% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Simon Borrows directly holds 1.7% of the total shares outstanding.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 25 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.