Vicat S.A.'s (EPA:VCT) biggest owners are private companies who got richer after stock soared 5.2% last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Vicat indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The largest shareholder of the company is Parfininco with a 59% stake
• Institutions own 12% of Vicat

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If you want to know who really controls Vicat S.A. (EPA:VCT), 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 private companies with 59% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit €3.3b market cap following a 5.2% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Vicat

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vicat?

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 Vicat does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Vicat, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Vicat is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Parfininco is the largest shareholder with 59% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 1.9% and 1.5% of the stock.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Vicat

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Vicat S.A.. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own €12m worth of shares. 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

With a 28% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Vicat. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 59%, 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:

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.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.