Insiders were the key beneficiaries as Bastogi S.p.A.'s (BIT:B) market cap rises to €104m

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Bastogi's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 65% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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If you want to know who really controls Bastogi S.p.A. (BIT:B), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 82% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 19% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bastogi.

Check out our latest analysis for Bastogi

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bastogi?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Bastogi might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Bastogi. Matteo Cabassi is currently the largest shareholder, with 25% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 22% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 17% by the third-largest shareholder. Marco Cabassi, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Top Key Executive.

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 65% stake.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Bastogi

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Bastogi S.p.A.. This gives them effective control of the company. That means they own €85m worth of shares in the €104m company. That's quite meaningful. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 11% stake in Bastogi. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 6.6%, of the company's shares. 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 Bastogi better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Bastogi that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.