Grupa Azoty S.A. (WSE:ATT) surges 14%; state or government who own 33% shares profited along with institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Grupa Azoty by state or government implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 53% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• 25% of Grupa Azoty is held by Institutions

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Every investor in Grupa Azoty S.A. (WSE:ATT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that state or government own the lion's share in the company with 33% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While state or government were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 14% price gain, institutions also received a 25% cut.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Grupa Azoty

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Grupa Azoty?

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.

Grupa Azoty 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 Grupa Azoty'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 Grupa Azoty. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The State Treasury of the Republic of Poland with 33% of shares outstanding. With 20% and 8.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Public Joint Stock Company Acron and Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA are the second and third largest shareholders.

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

Insider Ownership Of Grupa Azoty

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 Grupa Azoty S.A. insiders own under 1% of the company. It appears that the board holds about zł72k worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of zł2.3b. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 22% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 20% of the Grupa Azoty shares on issue. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.