Recent uptick might appease CAR Group Limited (ASX:CAR) institutional owners after losing 3.3% over the past year

Simply Wall St · 04/14 00:48

Key Insights

  • Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, CAR Group's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
  • 50% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
  • Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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If you want to know who really controls CAR Group Limited (ASX:CAR), 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 institutions with 49% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

After a year of 3.3% losses, last week’s 4.2% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

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

See our latest analysis for CAR Group

ownership-breakdown
ASX:CAR Ownership Breakdown April 14th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CAR Group?

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.

CAR Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 CAR Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
ASX:CAR Earnings and Revenue Growth April 14th 2025

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in CAR Group. State Street Global Advisors, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 7.2% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.7% and 5.1% of the stock.

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.

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.

Insider Ownership Of CAR Group

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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in CAR Group Limited. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own AU$573m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 45% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over CAR Group. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

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 be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with CAR Group .

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.