Coca-Cola HBC AG's (LON:CCH) largest shareholders are retail investors with 35% ownership, private companies own 23%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Coca-Cola HBC indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 50% of the business is held by the top 5 shareholders
• Insiders have sold recently

A look at the shareholders of Coca-Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 35% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, private companies make up 23% of the company’s shareholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Coca-Cola HBC.

See our latest analysis for Coca-Cola HBC

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coca-Cola HBC?

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.

Coca-Cola HBC already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Coca-Cola HBC's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Coca-Cola HBC. The company's largest shareholder is Boval S.A., with ownership of 23%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 21% and 2.7% of the stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 5 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. 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 Coca-Cola HBC

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Coca-Cola HBC AG in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own UK£77m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 35% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Coca-Cola HBC. 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 23%, 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 21% of Coca-Cola HBC. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Coca-Cola HBC better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Coca-Cola HBC you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.