56% of Bayer CropScience Limited (NSE:BAYERCROP) shares are held by public companies and 30% by private investors.

Key findings

• The significant control of Bayer CropScience by listed companies means that the public has more influence on management and governance-related decisions
• The company’s largest shareholder is Bayer Aktiengesellschaft with a stake of 56%.
• 12% of Bayer CropScience is in the hands of institutions

If you want to know who really controls Bayer CropScience Limited (NSE:BAYERCROP), you need to look at the composition of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie is public companies, with 56% of the shares. That means the group benefits the most when the stock rises (or loses the most when there is a downturn).

Private investors now make up 30% of the company’s shareholders.

Let’s take a closer look at Bayer CropScience’s ownership types using the table below.

Read our latest analysis for Bayer CropScience

What does institutional ownership tell us about Bayer CropScience?

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 their registry, especially if they’re growing.

Bayer CropScience already has institutions on the share registry. In fact, they own a sizable chunk of the company. This means that the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But, like anyone, they can be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there’s always a risk that they’re involved in a “crowd trade.” If such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may be competing to sell the shares quickly. This risk is higher with a company without a history of growth. You can see Bayer CropScience’s historical earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there’s always more to the story.

Hedge funds do not own a lot of shares in Bayer CropScience. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft is currently the company’s largest shareholder, with 56% of the outstanding shares. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not complete control, over the company’s future. The second and third largest shareholders hold 3.0% and 2.3% of the outstanding shares, respectively.

While studying institutional ownership of a company can enrich your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understanding of a stock’s expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you can examine the forecast growth quite easily.

Insider ownership at Bayer CropScience

The definition of corporate insiders can be subjective and varies by jurisdiction. Our data reflects individual insiders and includes at least board members. Company management is accountable to the board, which should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, top executives are sometimes on the board themselves.

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

Our data suggests that insiders own less than 1% of Bayer CropScience Limited in their own names. However, it is possible that insiders have indirect ownership through a more complex structure. As this is quite a large company, it is possible that board members own a significant share of the company without owning a large proportional share. In this case, they own around ₹3.3m worth of shares (at the current price). It is good to see board members own shares, but it might be worth checking whether those insiders have been buying.

Public property

The general public – including retail investors – owns 30% of the company’s shares and therefore cannot be easily ignored. Even if this size of ownership is not enough to sway a political decision in their favor, they can still collectively influence company policy.

Ownership of public companies

It seems to us that 56% of Bayer CropScience is owned by listed companies. We cannot say for sure, but it is quite possible that this is a strategic investment. The companies could be similar or work together.

Next Steps:

While it is worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Remember that Bayer CropScience 1 warning signal in our investment analysis you should know about…

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

NB: The figures in this article are calculated using the last twelve months’ data, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last day of the month in which the financial statements are dated. This may not match the figures in the annual report.

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This Simply Wall St article is of a general nature. We comment solely on historical data and analyst forecasts, using an unbiased methodology. Our articles do not constitute financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take into account your objectives or financial situation. Our goal is to provide you with long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative materials. Simply Wall St does not hold any of the stocks mentioned.