Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE SA's (EBR:CFEB) biggest owners are public companies who got richer after stock soared 14% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Ackermans & Van Haaren NV owns 62% of the company
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE SA (EBR:CFEB) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 74% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, public companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 14% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE.

Check out our latest analysis for Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE 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. 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 Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Ackermans & Van Haaren NV, with ownership of 62%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. With 12% and 3.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Vinci SA and Moneta Asset Management are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.

General Public Ownership

With a 20% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 74% of the Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Compagnie d'Entreprises CFE .

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.