Grab Holdings Limited's (NASDAQ:GRAB) institutional investors lost 5.1% over the past week but have profited from longer-term gains

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Grab Holdings implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price

• The top 5 shareholders own 52% of the company

• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 33% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$14b last week. However, the 13% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. We would assume however, that they would be on the lookout for weakness in the future.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Grab Holdings.

View our latest analysis for Grab Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Grab Holdings?

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.

We can see that Grab Holdings 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 Grab Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Grab Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. SoftBank Investment Advisers (UK) Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 18% of shares outstanding. With 14% and 7.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Uber Technologies, Inc. and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 52% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Grab Holdings

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Grab Holdings Limited. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own US$429m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 19% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Grab Holdings. 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.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 18%, private equity firms could influence the Grab Holdings board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 26% of the Grab Holdings shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.