ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A.'s (BME:ACS) largest shareholders are retail investors with 54% ownership, institutions own 25%

Key Insights

• ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 44% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 25% of ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. (BME:ACS) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 54% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutions, on the other hand, account for 25% of the company's stockholders. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios.

View our latest analysis for ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios?

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.

ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios. The company's largest shareholder is Rosan Inversiones, S.L., with ownership of 15%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.0% and 4.7% of the stock.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios

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. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A.. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own €50m worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 54% of ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 20%, of the ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios stock. 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. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.