Hedge funds investors control 28% of Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. (ATH:TPEIR) and were rewarded last week after stock increased 7.4%

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Piraeus Financial Holdings’ stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 55% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of Piraeus Financial Holdings S.A. (ATH:TPEIR) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 28% to be precise, is hedge funds. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And last week, hedge funds investors ended up benefitting the most after the company hit €4.3b in market cap. The one-year return on investment is currently 119% and last week’s gain would have been more than welcomed.

Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Piraeus Financial Holdings.

See our latest analysis for Piraeus Financial Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Piraeus Financial Holdings?

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.

Piraeus Financial Holdings 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there’s always a risk that they are in a ‘crowded trade’. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Piraeus Financial Holdings’ historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there’s always more to the story.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 28% of Piraeus Financial Holdings. That’s interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Hellenic Corporation of Assets & Participations S.A. is currently the largest shareholder, with 27% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 19% and 9.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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

Insider Ownership Of Piraeus Financial Holdings

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.

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 note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.

General Public Ownership

With a 24% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Piraeus Financial Holdings. 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 Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 27%, of the Piraeus Financial Holdings 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 Piraeus Financial Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we’ve spotted with Piraeus Financial Holdings .

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.