Hapvida Participações e Investimentos S.A.'s (BVMF:HAPV3) largest shareholders are private companies who were rewarded as market cap surged R$924m last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Hapvida Participações e Investimentos indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Hapvida Participações e Investimentos is 31%

If you want to know who really controls Hapvida Participações e Investimentos S.A. (BVMF:HAPV3), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 36% ownership. 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 were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 4.7% gain.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Hapvida Participações e Investimentos, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Hapvida Participações e Investimentos

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hapvida Participações e Investimentos?

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.

Hapvida Participações e Investimentos already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Hapvida Participações e Investimentos' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hapvida Participações e Investimentos. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is PPAR Pinheiro Participações S.A. with 36% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 5.1% of common stock, and Capital Research and Management Company holds about 2.6% of the company stock.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 Hapvida Participações e Investimentos

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Our information suggests that Hapvida Participações e Investimentos S.A. insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around R$43m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 33% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 36%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Hapvida Participações e Investimentos you should know about.

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.