Retail investors account for 53% of ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A.'s (BME:ACS) ownership, while institutions account for 27%

Key Insights

• Significant control over ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 44% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 27% of ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. (BME:ACS), 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 53% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutions, on the other hand, account for 27% of the company's stockholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios

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

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios. 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 ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Rosan Inversiones, S.L., with ownership of 14%. Societe Generale Group, Banking Investments is the second largest shareholder owning 7.0% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 5.4% of the company 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.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. 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 ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 information suggests that ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. insiders own under 1% of the company. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own €48m worth of shares (at current prices). In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 53% of ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios shares. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 20%, of the shares on issue. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with ACS Actividades de Construcción y Servicios , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.