With 42% institutional ownership, KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. (WSE:KGH) is a favorite amongst the big guns

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in KGHM Polska Miedz implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 6 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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A look at the shareholders of KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. (WSE:KGH) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 42% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of KGHM Polska Miedz.

See our latest analysis for KGHM Polska Miedz

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About KGHM Polska Miedz?

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.

KGHM Polska Miedz 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 KGHM Polska Miedz's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in KGHM Polska Miedz. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is The State Treasury of the Republic of Poland with 32% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.0% and 5.1% of the stock.

We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of KGHM Polska Miedz

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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.

General Public Ownership

With a 26% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over KGHM Polska Miedz. 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 KGHM Polska Miedz better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts .

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.