The recent 15% gain must have brightened CEO Maurice Lévy's week, Solocal Group S.A.'s (EPA:LOCAL) most bullish insider

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Solocal Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 63% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Maurice Lévy)
• Institutional ownership in Solocal Group is 13%

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Solocal Group S.A. (EPA:LOCAL), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 63% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, insiders benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by €14m last week.

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

See our latest analysis for Solocal Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Solocal Group?

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.

We can see that Solocal Group 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. 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 Solocal Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Solocal Group. The company's CEO Maurice Lévy is the largest shareholder with 63% of shares outstanding. This implies that they possess majority interests and have significant control over the company. Investors usually consider it a good sign when the company leadership has such a significant stake, as this is widely perceived to increase the chance that the management will act in the best interests of the company. Robus Capital Management Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 3.9% of common stock, and UBS Asset Management AG holds about 2.6% of the company 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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Solocal Group

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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Solocal Group S.A. stock. This gives them a lot of power. So they have a €67m stake in this €107m business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Solocal Group you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

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.