Individual investors among Banco Comercial Português, S.A.'s (ELI:BCP) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 4.6% last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Banco Comercial Português indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 9 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 14% of Banco Comercial Português is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Banco Comercial Português, S.A. (ELI:BCP), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 46% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, individual investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by €319m last week.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Banco Comercial Português.

View our latest analysis for Banco Comercial Português

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Banco Comercial Português?

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.

Banco Comercial Português 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 Banco Comercial Português' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Banco Comercial Português. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Fosun International Holdings Ltd. with 20% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 19% and 2.0% of the stock.

We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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

Insider Ownership Of Banco Comercial Português

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 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 46% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Banco Comercial Português. 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 40%, 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Banco Comercial Português that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.