Nayax Ltd.'s (TLV:NYAX) most bullish insider is CEO Yair Nechmad, and their holdings value went up by 6.0% last week

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Nayax's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• The top 3 shareholders own 61% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Nayax is 21%

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Nayax Ltd. (TLV:NYAX), 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 61% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit ₪5.5b market cap following a 6.0% gain in the stock.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Nayax, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Nayax

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nayax?

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.

Nayax 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Nayax's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Nayax. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Yair Nechmad with 23% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Amir Nechmad and David Ben Avi, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 19%. Interestingly, the second and third-largest shareholders also happen to be the Top Key Executive and Member of the Board of Directors, respectively. This once again signifies considerable insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Nayax

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 insiders own more than half of Nayax Ltd.. This gives them effective control of the company. That means insiders have a very meaningful ₪3.4b stake in this ₪5.5b business. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if they have been selling down their stake.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 18% 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Nayax better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Nayax you should be aware of.

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.