Entech SA's (EPA:ALESE) largest shareholder, CEO Christopher Franquet sees holdings value fall by 11% following recent drop

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Entech's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• Christopher Franquet owns 52% of the company
• 15% of Entech is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Entech SA (EPA:ALESE), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 64% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And following last week's 11% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Entech, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Entech

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Entech?

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 Entech. 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. 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 Entech's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Entech. The company's CEO Christopher Franquet is the largest shareholder with 52% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider with such skin in the game. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 13% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.9% by the third-largest 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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Entech

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 information suggests that insiders own more than half of Entech SA. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of €107m, that means they have €68m worth of shares. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 20% stake in Entech. 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.

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 instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Entech that you should be aware of.

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.