ALTEO Energy Services Public Limited Company's (BUSE:ALTEO) high institutional ownership speaks for itself as stock continues to impress, up 11% over last week

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies ALTEO Energy Services' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 74% ownership
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

To get a sense of who is truly in control of ALTEO Energy Services Public Limited Company (BUSE:ALTEO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 52% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained Ft12b in market cap last week. One-year return to shareholders is currently 134% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.

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

View our latest analysis for ALTEO Energy Services

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ALTEO Energy Services?

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.

ALTEO Energy Services 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. 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 ALTEO Energy Services, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. ALTEO Energy Services is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság is the largest shareholder with 25% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Indotek-Investments Alapkezelo Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag and Gránit Asset Management, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 25%.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 74% stake.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of ALTEO Energy Services

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.

Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 19% stake in ALTEO Energy Services. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 25% of the ALTEO Energy Services shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand ALTEO Energy Services better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that ALTEO Energy Services is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those can't be ignored...

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.