Vercom S.A.'s (WSE:VRC) largest shareholders are public companies who were rewarded as market cap surged zł266m last week

Key Insights

• Vercom's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Cyber_Folks S.A. with a 50% stake
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of Vercom S.A. (WSE:VRC) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 50% 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, public companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 11% gain.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Vercom

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vercom?

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.

Vercom 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. 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 Vercom's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Vercom. Cyber_Folks S.A. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 50% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 11% and 7.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, UAB "ITEMA ventures" and Adam Lewkowicz are the second and third largest shareholders.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Vercom

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 report that insiders do own shares in Vercom S.A.. It has a market capitalization of just zł2.7b, and insiders have zł224m worth of shares, in their own names. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 14% stake in Vercom. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 19%, of the Vercom stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 50% of Vercom stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

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.