Significantly high institutional ownership implies Trip.com Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
50% of the business is held by the top 15 shareholders
Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock
If you want to know who really controls Trip.com Group Limited (NASDAQ:TCOM), 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 74% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Losing money on investments is something no shareholder enjoys, least of all institutional investors who saw their holdings value drop by 15% last week. However, the 26% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. They should, however, be mindful of further losses in the future.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Trip.com Group.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Trip.com 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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Trip.com Group. 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 Trip.com Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
NasdaqGS:TCOM Earnings and Revenue Growth March 2nd 2025
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Trip.com Group is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Capital Research and Management Company with 15% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.1% and 5.6% of the stock.
Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 15 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.
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 Trip.com Group
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. 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.
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.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Trip.com Group Limited. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own US$835m 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-- including retail investors -- own 16% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.
Public Company Ownership
It appears to us that public companies own 7.1% of Trip.com Group. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Trip.com Group better, we need to consider many other factors.
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.
