Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Bowman Consulting Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 15 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Recent sales by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:BWMN) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 42% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, institutional investors ended up benefitting the most after the company hit US$562m in market cap. The one-year return on investment is currently 14% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bowman Consulting Group.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bowman Consulting Group?

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.

Bowman Consulting Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Bowman Consulting Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Bowman Consulting Group is not owned by hedge funds. With a 13% stake, CEO Gary Bowman is the largest shareholder. With 11% and 3.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, FMR LLC and BlackRock, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 Bowman Consulting Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Bowman Consulting Group Ltd.. Insiders have a US$107m stake in this US$562m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 39% stake in Bowman Consulting Group. 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.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Bowman Consulting Group 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.