Key Insights

• Bank of Cyprus Holdings’ significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 51% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• Recent purchases by insiders

Every investor in Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company (CSE:BOCH) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 42% to be precise, is individual investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And following last week’s 5.2% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.

Let’s delve deeper into each type of owner of Bank of Cyprus Holdings, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Bank of Cyprus Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bank of Cyprus Holdings?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Bank of Cyprus Holdings. 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 of Cyprus Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It would appear that 23% of Bank of Cyprus Holdings shares are controlled by hedge funds. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Lamesa Group Holding S.A. is the largest shareholder with 9.3% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 9.1% and 8.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company’s shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 Bank of Cyprus 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. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It’s a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own €4.9m worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 42% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bank of Cyprus Holdings. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 22%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it’s hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we’ve spotted with Bank of Cyprus Holdings .

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.