Recent 3.1% pullback would hurt L.D.C. S.A. (EPA:LOUP) insiders

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in L.D.C's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 57% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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A look at the shareholders of L.D.C. S.A. (EPA:LOUP) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 70% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, insiders endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 3.1%.

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

See our latest analysis for L.D.C

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About L.D.C?

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 L.D.C. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 L.D.C's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in L.D.C. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Denis Lambert with 40% of shares outstanding. Gerard Chancereul is the second largest shareholder owning 18% of common stock, and Cafel Cooperative Company holds about 9.5% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 L.D.C

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of L.D.C. S.A.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. Given it has a market cap of €3.0b, that means insiders have a whopping €2.1b worth of shares in their own names. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been selling any of their shares.

General Public Ownership

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over L.D.C. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 9.5%, 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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.