Riyad Bank's (TADAWUL:1010) largest shareholders are individual investors with 46% ownership, sovereign wealth funds own 22%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Riyad Bank indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 51% of the business is held by the top 5 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Riyad Bank (TADAWUL:1010), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 46% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, sovereign wealth funds make up 22% of the company’s shareholders.

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

View our latest analysis for Riyad Bank

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Riyad Bank?

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.

Riyad Bank already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Riyad Bank, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Riyad Bank. Public Investment Fund is currently the company's largest shareholder with 22% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10% and 8.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 51% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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

Insider Ownership Of Riyad Bank

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Riyad Bank. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own ر.س106m worth of shares (at current prices). 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

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 46% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 17%, of the Riyad Bank 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Riyad Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Riyad Bank is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.