Eutelsat Communications S.A.'s (EPA:ETL) largest shareholders are retail investors who were rewarded as market cap surged €66m last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Eutelsat Communications by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Eutelsat Communications is 25%

If you want to know who really controls Eutelsat Communications S.A. (EPA:ETL), 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 retail investors with 34% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, retail investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 5.0% gain.

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

See our latest analysis for Eutelsat Communications

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Eutelsat Communications?

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.

Eutelsat Communications 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. 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 Eutelsat Communications' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Eutelsat Communications. Bpifrance Participations SA is currently the largest shareholder, with 26% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10% and 7.9% of the stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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

Insider Ownership Of Eutelsat Communications

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 34% stake in Eutelsat Communications. 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.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 26% stake in Eutelsat Communications. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 16%, of the Eutelsat Communications stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the 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. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Eutelsat Communications (1 is concerning!) 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.