Institutions own 42% of Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions (EPA:ML) shares but retail investors control 52% of the company

Key Insights

• Significant control over Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 37% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions is 42%

If you want to know who really controls Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions (EPA:ML), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 52% ownership. 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 42% 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 delve deeper into each type of owner of Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions?

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.

We can see that Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions 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 Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions. Our data shows that Mage Invest is the largest shareholder with 4.2% of shares outstanding. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 3.8% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 3.7% of the company stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. 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 Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions

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.

Our information suggests that Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions insiders own under 1% of the company. 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 €37m worth of shares. 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, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 52% of Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 4.2%, 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:

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 risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin Société en commandite par actions 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.