Key Insights

• Significant control over Blink Charging by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions

• The top 25 shareholders own 38% of the company

• Insiders have sold recently

If you want to know who really controls Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ:BLNK), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 56% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 16% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 38% stock also took a hit.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Blink Charging.

See our latest analysis for Blink Charging

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Blink Charging?

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 the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Blink Charging 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. 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 Blink Charging's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Blink Charging is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 6.6% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.1% by the third-largest shareholder.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Blink Charging

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 Blink Charging Co.. It has a market capitalization of just US$159m, and insiders have US$7.3m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment, but we usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 56% of Blink Charging. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

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 Blink Charging is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is significant...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.