Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A.'s (BIT:BMPS) biggest owners are individual investors who got richer after stock soared 7.7% last week

Key Insights

• Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 46% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is 20%

If you want to know who really controls Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BIT:BMPS), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, individual investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 7.7% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

View our latest analysis for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena?

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.

We can see that Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze is currently the largest shareholder, with 27% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 3.2% and 2.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 53% of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) you should know about.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.