Private companies in SLC Agrícola S.A. (BVMF:SLCE3) are its biggest bettors, and their bets paid off as stock gained 6.3% last week

Key Insights

• SLC Agrícola's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 50% of the company is held by a single shareholder (SLC Participações S.A.)
• Institutional ownership in SLC Agrícola is 16%

If you want to know who really controls SLC Agrícola S.A. (BVMF:SLCE3), 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 50% to be precise, is private companies. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit R$8.2b market cap following a 6.3% gain in the stock.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of SLC Agrícola.

View our latest analysis for SLC Agrícola

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SLC Agrícola?

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 SLC Agrícola 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 SLC Agrícola, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in SLC Agrícola. SLC Participações S.A. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 50% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. Guilherme Mognon Scheffer is the second largest shareholder owning 5.4% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 1.8% of the company stock.

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

Insider Ownership Of SLC Agrícola

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 can report that insiders do own shares in SLC Agrícola S.A.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth R$444m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 29% stake in SLC Agrícola. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 50%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

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. Take risks for example - SLC Agrícola has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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.