With 71% institutional ownership, Canadian National Railway Company (TSE:CNR) is a favorite amongst the big guns

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editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Thu, Mar 13, 2025, 7:55 AM 4 min read

If you want to know who really controls Canadian National Railway Company (TSE:CNR), 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 71% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

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. 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 Canadian National Railway, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Canadian National Railway

ownership-breakdown — TSX:CNR Ownership Breakdown March 13th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Canadian National Railway?

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.

We can see that Canadian National Railway 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. 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 Canadian National Railway's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — TSX:CNR Earnings and Revenue Growth March 13th 2025

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Canadian National Railway is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust is the largest shareholder with 8.7% of shares outstanding. With 4.7% and 3.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, TCI Fund Management Limited and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 25 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Canadian National Railway

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Canadian National Railway Company. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own CA$2.3b worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows a good alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 26% stake in Canadian National Railway. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

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. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Canadian National Railway that you should be aware of.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.