While institutions invested in Camellia Plc (LON:CAM) benefited from last week's 13% gain, private companies stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Camellia indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Camellia Private Trust Company Limited owns 52% of the company
• Institutions own 35% of Camellia

A look at the shareholders of Camellia Plc (LON:CAM) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 13% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 35% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Camellia.

See our latest analysis for Camellia

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Camellia?

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 Camellia 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 Camellia's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Camellia is not owned by hedge funds. Camellia Private Trust Company Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 52% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. Nokia Pension Foundation is the second largest shareholder owning 14% of common stock, and Quaero Capital SA holds about 4.9% 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 Camellia

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Camellia Plc. It has a market capitalization of just UK£137m, and insiders have UK£3.8m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment, but we usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Camellia. 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 52%, of the company's shares. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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. Be aware that Camellia is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.