EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme's (EPA:EL) largest shareholders are retail investors who were rewarded as market cap surged €2.9b last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 15 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 27% of EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme (EPA:EL) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 38% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, retail investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 3.9% gain.

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

Check out our latest analysis for EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme?

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 EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme 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 EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Delfin S.à R.L. with 32% of shares outstanding. Capital Research and Management Company is the second largest shareholder owning 2.7% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 2.6% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme

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.

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 less than 1% of EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own €180m worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 38% stake in EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 34%, of the EssilorLuxottica Société anonyme stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com