With 86% ownership, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LON:BMY) boasts of strong institutional backing

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

Wed, Oct 2, 2024, 6:32 AM 4 min read

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bloomsbury Publishing?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Bloomsbury Publishing. 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 Bloomsbury Publishing, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — LSE:BMY Earnings and Revenue Growth October 2nd 2024

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Bloomsbury Publishing is not owned by hedge funds. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.0% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.1% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.7% by the third-largest shareholder. Additionally, the company's CEO John Newton directly holds 2.0% of the total shares outstanding.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 11 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Bloomsbury Publishing

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

We can see that insiders own shares in Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. As individuals, the insiders collectively own UK£12m worth of the UK£544m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 12% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bloomsbury Publishing. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Bloomsbury Publishing better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Bloomsbury Publishing that you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.