Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd's (TLV:HARL) largest shareholders are private companies with 46% ownership, individual investors own 35%

Key Insights

• Significant control over Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services is 19%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd (TLV:HARL), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 46% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 35% of the company's stockholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services.

View our latest analysis for Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Harel Insurance Investments & Financial 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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services. 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. 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 Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services. Our data shows that G.Y.N. Economic Advice & Management Ltd is the largest shareholder with 46% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 3.0% and 2.2% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services

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.

Our information suggests that Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own ₪32m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. 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 Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services. 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 Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 46%, of the Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services stock. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services 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.