Insiders the biggest winners as Aura Investments Ltd.'s (TLV:AURA) market cap rises to ₪4.3b

Key Insights

• Aura Investments' significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 2 shareholders own 60% of the company
• 38% of Aura Investments is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Aura Investments Ltd. (TLV:AURA), 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 48% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Clearly, insiders benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by ₪275m last week.

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

View our latest analysis for Aura Investments

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Aura Investments?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Aura Investments. 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 Aura Investments, (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 Aura Investments. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Igal Atrakchi with 48% of shares outstanding. Clal Pension And Gemel Ltd is the second largest shareholder owning 12% of common stock, and Menora Mivtachim Pensions & Gemel Ltd. holds about 11% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Aura Investments

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Aura Investments Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just ₪4.3b, and insiders have ₪2.1b worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. 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 14% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

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 Aura Investments is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those shouldn'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.