IHS Holding Limited's (NYSE:IHS) largest shareholders are public companies who were rewarded as market cap surged US$163m last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over IHS Holding by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 3 shareholders own 51% of the company
• 12% of IHS Holding is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of IHS Holding Limited (NYSE:IHS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 26% stake, public companies possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, public companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by US$163m last week.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about IHS Holding.

See our latest analysis for IHS Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About IHS Holding?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in IHS Holding. MTN Group Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 26% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 19% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.5% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO Sam Darwish is the owner of 3.9% of the company's shares.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of IHS Holding

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. 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 can see that insiders own shares in IHS Holding Limited. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth US$107m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over IHS Holding. 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 24%, private equity firms could influence the IHS Holding board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 26% of IHS Holding. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for IHS Holding you should be aware of.

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.