Viva Leisure Limited's (ASX:VVA) biggest owners are private companies who got richer after stock soared 13% last week

Key Insights

• Viva Leisure's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 51% of the business is held by the top 5 shareholders
• 20% of Viva Leisure is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Viva Leisure Limited (ASX:VVA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 33% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit AU$183m market cap following a 13% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Viva Leisure

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Viva Leisure?

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.

We can see that Viva Leisure 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. 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 Viva Leisure's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 14% of Viva Leisure. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Shja Management Pty Ltd with 18% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 14% and 7.5% of the stock. Furthermore, CEO Harry Konstantinou is the owner of 1.9% of the company's shares.

On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of 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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Viva Leisure

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 some shares in Viva Leisure Limited. As individuals, the insiders collectively own AU$8.2m worth of the AU$183m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 29% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Viva Leisure. 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 Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 33%, of the Viva Leisure stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Viva Leisure better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Viva Leisure , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.