Endesa, S.A.'s (BME:ELE) top owners are public companies with 70% stake, while 20% is held by individual investors

Key Insights

• Significant control over Endesa by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Enel SpA owns 70% of the company
• Institutions own 10% of Endesa

If you want to know who really controls Endesa, S.A. (BME:ELE), 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 70% to be precise, is public companies. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 20% of the company's stockholders.

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

See our latest analysis for Endesa

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Endesa?

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 Endesa does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Endesa's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Endesa. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Enel SpA with 70% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 1.7% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 1.1% 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Endesa

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.

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.

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 20% stake in Endesa. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 70% of Endesa. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Endesa (of which 2 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

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.