Banca Mediolanum S.p.A.'s (BIT:BMED) largest shareholders are private companies with 60% ownership, individual investors own 23%

Key Insights

• Banca Mediolanum's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 57% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Institutions own 10% of Banca Mediolanum

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Banca Mediolanum S.p.A. (BIT:BMED), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 60% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And individual investors on the other hand have a 23% ownership in the company.

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

See our latest analysis for Banca Mediolanum

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Banca Mediolanum?

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.

We can see that Banca Mediolanum 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 Mediolanum's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Banca Mediolanum. The company's largest shareholder is Fingruppo Holding S.p.A., with ownership of 30%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 26% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.9% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 Mediolanum

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Banca Mediolanum S.p.A.. Insiders own €578m worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 23% 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 60%, of the shares on issue. 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:

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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Banca Mediolanum (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.