Every investor in Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 63% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
And last week, institutional investors ended up benefitting the most after the company hit US$51b in market cap. One-year return to shareholders is currently 247% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Robinhood Markets, beginning with the chart below.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Robinhood Markets?
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.
We can see that Robinhood Markets does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Robinhood Markets, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
NasdaqGS:HOOD Earnings and Revenue Growth May 14th 2025
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Robinhood Markets is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc. with 8.4% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.6% by the third-largest shareholder. Baiju Bhatt, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Top Key Executive. Additionally, the company's CEO Vladimir Tenev directly holds 0.8% of the total shares outstanding.
Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Robinhood Markets
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Robinhood Markets, Inc.. Insiders own US$4.2b worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 29% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Robinhood Markets has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.
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.
