Private companies among Exail Technologies' (EPA:EXA) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 9.8% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Exail Technologies by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 3 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Exail Technologies is 20%

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Exail Technologies (EPA:EXA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 43% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit €1.4b market cap following a 9.8% gain in the stock.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Exail Technologies.

Check out our latest analysis for Exail Technologies

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Exail Technologies?

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.

Exail Technologies 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 Exail Technologies' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Exail Technologies is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Famille Gorgé is the largest shareholder with 43% of shares outstanding. With 6.9% and 3.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, BNP Paribas Financial Markets SNC and Amundi Asset Management SAS are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Raphael Gorge, the CEO has 0.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 52% stake.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Exail Technologies

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Exail Technologies. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around €18m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 36% stake in Exail Technologies. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 43%, of the shares on issue. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Exail Technologies better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Exail Technologies (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.