Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Qantas Airways indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 36% ownership
• 39% of Qantas Airways is held by Institutions

Our free stock report includes 2 warning signs investors should be aware of before investing in Qantas Airways. Read for free now.

If you want to know who really controls Qantas Airways Limited (ASX:QAN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 60% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And institutions on the other hand have a 39% ownership in the company. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies.

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

View our latest analysis for Qantas Airways

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Qantas Airways?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Qantas Airways. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Qantas Airways' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Qantas Airways. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is State Street Global Advisors, Inc. with 7.5% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 5.6% of common stock, and L1 Capital Pty. Limited holds about 5.1% of the company stock.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 Qantas Airways

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Qantas Airways Limited in their own names. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own AU$44m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 60% of Qantas Airways. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Qantas Airways better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Qantas Airways that you should be aware of.

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.