Lotus Bakeries NV's (EBR:LOTB) top owners are private companies with 54% stake, while 33% is held by individual investors

Key Insights

• Lotus Bakeries' significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Stichting Administratiekantoor van Aandelen Bisinvest en Lotus Bakeries with a 50% stake
• Institutions own 13% of Lotus Bakeries

Every investor in Lotus Bakeries NV (EBR:LOTB) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 54% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 33% ownership in the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Lotus Bakeries.

Check out our latest analysis for Lotus Bakeries

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Lotus Bakeries?

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 Lotus Bakeries does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Lotus Bakeries, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Lotus Bakeries. The company's largest shareholder is Stichting Administratiekantoor van Aandelen Bisinvest en Lotus Bakeries, with ownership of 50%. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 4.2% and 2.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Biloba Holding BVBA and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Lotus Bakeries

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 33% stake in Lotus Bakeries. 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 54%, of the Lotus Bakeries 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:

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.