Institutional investors are Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A.'s (WSE:PEO) biggest bettors and were rewarded after last week's zł1.7b market cap gain
Key Insights
- Significantly high institutional ownership implies Bank Polska Kasa Opieki's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
- 52% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
- Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business
To get a sense of who is truly in control of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. (WSE:PEO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 52% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
And last week, institutional investors ended up benefitting the most after the company hit zł55b in market cap. The one-year return on investment is currently 67% and last week's gain would have been more than welcomed.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for Bank Polska Kasa Opieki
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bank Polska Kasa Opieki?
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Bank Polska Kasa Opieki. 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. 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 Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Bank Polska Kasa Opieki. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA with 20% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 13% and 7.2% of the stock.
We also observed that the top 6 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.
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 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 Bank Polska Kasa Opieki
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
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.
We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.
General Public Ownership
With a 28% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bank Polska Kasa Opieki. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Public Company Ownership
Public companies currently own 20% of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki stock. 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:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Bank Polska Kasa Opieki better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Bank Polska Kasa Opieki (1 can't be ignored) that you should be aware of.
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.