KBC Ancora SCA's (EBR:KBCA) largest shareholders are private companies who were rewarded as market cap surged €204m last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in KBC Ancora indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 51% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Cera S.C.R.L.)
• Institutions own 10% of KBC Ancora

If you want to know who really controls KBC Ancora SCA (EBR:KBCA), 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 51% to be precise, is private companies. 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 were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 6.2% gain.

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

See our latest analysis for KBC Ancora

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About KBC Ancora?

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.

KBC Ancora 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of KBC Ancora, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

KBC Ancora is not owned by hedge funds. Cera S.C.R.L. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 51% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 1.7% and 1.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of KBC Ancora

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 39% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 51%, of the shares on issue. 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:

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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with KBC Ancora (including 1 which can't be ignored) .

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.