15 Companies with the Most Insider Ownership

For companies with high levels of insider ownership — holdings of stock by high level executives and directors within the firm — a message is sent to the market that those most intimate with corporate finances are confident of growth potential, since their personal wealth is directly tied to stock performance.

As it turns out, some companies are significant outliers when it comes to insider ownership. Whereas some CEO-founders hold upwards of 20 percent of the outstanding shares, most insider holdings are spread amongst executives. To get an idea of which S&P 500 index companies have high levels of insider ownership, CNBC’s analyst Giovanny Moreano compiled the numbers with data from Capital IQ and Thomson Reuters.

So, which companies have the highest levels of insider ownership? Click ahead to find out!

By Giovanny Moreano & Paul Toscano
Posted 5 Oct 2011

Insider ownership: 20.10%
Shares owned: 21,486,469
Insider holdings value: $1.33 billion

YTD share performance: -16.1%
Market cap: $6.62
Total shares outstanding: 106,902,000

Insider ownership: 21.85%
Shares owned: 62,222,399
Insider holdings value: $993.7 million

YTD share performance: -31.5%
Market cap: $4.62 billion
Total shares outstanding: 284,800,000

Insider ownership: 21.94%
Shares owned: 1,106,773,996
Insider holdings value: $31.76 billion

YTD share performance: -5.7%
Market cap: $148.87 billion
Total shares outstanding: 5,044,602,000

Note: Larry Ellison, Oracle’s CEO, currently holds 21.9% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Insider ownership: 22.92%
Shares owned: 92,633,527
Insider holdings value: $3.16 billion

YTD share performance: -10.1%
Market cap: $14.14 billion
Total shares outstanding: 404,099,000

Insider ownership: 23.49%
Shares owned: 36,149,563
Insider holdings value: $841.2 million

YTD share performance: -34.4%
Market cap: $3.6 billion
Total shares outstanding: 153,919,000

Insider ownership: 23.55%
Shares owned: 50,059,410
Insider holdings value: $2.4 billion

YTD share performance: +13.8%
Market cap: $10.25 billion
Total shares outstanding: 212,610,000

Insider ownership: 24.27%
Shares owned: 22,444,211
Insider holdings value: $2.95 billion

YTD share performance: +19.8%
Market cap: $12.29 billion
Total shares outstanding: 92,467,000 

Note: Ralph Lauren, the company’s CEO, currently holds 23.98% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Insider ownership: 24.36%
Shares owned: 94,613,680
Insider holdings value: $4.47 billion

YTD share performance: -12.1%
Market cap: $18.49 billion
Total shares outstanding:388,328,000

Insider ownership: 24.39%
Shares owned: 402,717
Insider holdings value: $44.12 billion

YTD share performance: -8.6%
Market cap: $187.2 billion
Total shares outstanding: N/A

Note: Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s founder and CEO, currently holds 22.27% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Insider ownership: 25.28%
Shares owned: 127,571,882
Insider holdings value: $2.53 billion

YTD share performance: -17%
Market cap: $10.24 billion
Total shares outstanding: 504,696,000

Insider ownership: 31.05%
Shares owned: 26,798,904
Insider holdings value: $1.63 billion

YTD share performance: -53.2%
Market cap: $5.23 billion
Total shares outstanding: 86,305,000

Insider ownership: 34.52%
Shares owned: 9,741,945
Insider holdings value: $3.43 billion

YTD share performance: -0.1%
Market cap: $10.03 billion
Total shares outstanding: 144,100,000

Insider ownership: 34.76%
Shares owned: 67,411,187
Insider holdings value: $5.9 billion

YTD share share performance: +9.0%
Market cap: $17.06 billion
Total shares outstanding: 193,956,000

Insider ownership: 34.89%
Shares owned: 76,939,351
Insider holdings value: $7.24 billion

YTD share performance: -12.0%
Market cap: $21.58 billion
Total shares outstanding: 220,537,000

Insider ownership: 38.22%
Shares owned: 122,367,861
Insider holdings value: $4.02 billion

YTD share performance: -5.5%
Market cap: $10.51 billion
Total shares outstanding: 320,209,000