To get a sense of who is truly in control of Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 28% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And our data suggests that insiders own the top position in the company's share registry despite recent sales. As market cap fell to US$3.2b last week, they would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Joby Aviation, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Joby Aviation

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Joby Aviation?

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.

Joby Aviation already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Joby Aviation's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Joby Aviation. The company's CEO JoeBen Bevirt is the largest shareholder with 16% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 9.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, Toyota Motor Corporation and Paul Sciarra are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Paul Sciarra is also a Chairman of the Board, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 53% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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

Insider Ownership Of Joby Aviation

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Joby Aviation, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$3.2b, and insiders have US$885m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 27% stake in Joby Aviation. 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 14%, private equity firms could influence the Joby Aviation board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 13% of the Joby Aviation shares on issue. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Joby Aviation is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are significant...

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.