Insiders of Acsion Limited (JSE:ACS) must be frustrated after market cap dropped R847m since recent purchases

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over Acsion implies vested interests in company growth
• Kiriakos Anastasiadis owns 83% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

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If you want to know who really controls Acsion Limited (JSE:ACS), 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 individual insiders with 87% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Notably, insiders have bought shares recently. However, with market cap down by R847m over the last week, their expectations were far from met.

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

See our latest analysis for Acsion

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Acsion?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Acsion, for yourself, below.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Acsion. With a 83% stake, CEO Kiriakos Anastasiadis is the largest shareholder. This implies that they possess majority interests and have significant control over the company. Investors usually consider it a good sign when the company leadership has such a significant stake, as this is widely perceived to increase the chance that the management will act in the best interests of the company. With 3.9% and 2.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, C. Koukoudis and Southern Palace Investment 108 Proprietary Limited 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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Acsion

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. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Acsion Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. So they have a R2.4b stake in this R2.7b business. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Acsion. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Acsion better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Acsion (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.