bpost NV/SA's (EBR:BPOST) largest shareholders are retail investors who were rewarded as market cap surged €53m last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in bpost/SA indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in bpost/SA is 10%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of bpost NV/SA (EBR:BPOST), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 39% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, retail investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 7.6% gain.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of bpost/SA, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for bpost/SA

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About bpost/SA?

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 bpost/SA does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 bpost/SA, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in bpost/SA. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Federal Holding and Investment Company with 27% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 24% and 1.8% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of bpost/SA

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 39% stake in bpost/SA. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with bpost/SA .

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.