Sovereign wealth funds among bpost NV/SA's (EBR:BPOST) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 15% price drop

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by sovereign wealth funds in bpost/SA indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Federal Holding and Investment Company owns 51% of the company
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

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A look at the shareholders of bpost NV/SA (EBR:BPOST) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that sovereign wealth funds own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, sovereign wealth funds endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 15%.

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

See our latest analysis for bpost/SA

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

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.

We can see that bpost/SA 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 bpost/SA's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in bpost/SA. Federal Holding and Investment Company is currently the largest shareholder, with 51% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 1.9% and 1.2% of the stock.

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 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.

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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in bpost/SA. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand bpost/SA better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for bpost/SA you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.