Private companies account for 56% of Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A.'s (ELI:JMT) ownership, while individual investors account for 22%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Jerónimo Martins SGPS indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Sociedade Francisco Manuel Dos Santos, S.G.P.S., S.E. owns 56% of the company
• 22% of Jerónimo Martins SGPS is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A. (ELI:JMT), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 56% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 22% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Jerónimo Martins SGPS, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Jerónimo Martins SGPS

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jerónimo Martins SGPS?

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.

Jerónimo Martins SGPS already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Jerónimo Martins SGPS, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Jerónimo Martins SGPS. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Sociedade Francisco Manuel Dos Santos, S.G.P.S., S.E. with 56% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 2.1% and 1.9% of the stock.

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 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 Jerónimo Martins SGPS

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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A. in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own €5.3m of stock. Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 22% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Jerónimo Martins SGPS. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 56%, of the Jerónimo Martins SGPS 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.

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. Be aware that Jerónimo Martins SGPS is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.