Private companies among Bastide Le Confort Médical SA's (EPA:BLC) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 13% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Bastide Le Confort Médical by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is Societe d'Investissement Bastide SAS with a 53% stake
• Institutions own 15% of Bastide Le Confort Médical

A look at the shareholders of Bastide Le Confort Médical SA (EPA:BLC) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 53% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit €200m market cap following a 13% gain in the stock.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Bastide Le Confort Médical, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Bastide Le Confort Médical

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bastide Le Confort Médical?

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.

Bastide Le Confort Médical 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. 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 Bastide Le Confort Médical, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Bastide Le Confort Médical. The company's largest shareholder is Societe d'Investissement Bastide SAS, with ownership of 53%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 3.1% and 1.7% of the stock. In addition, we found that Vincent Bastide, the CEO has 1.5% of the shares allocated to their name.

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. 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 Bastide Le Confort Médical

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 can report that insiders do own shares in Bastide Le Confort Médical SA. In their own names, insiders own €3.2m worth of stock in the €200m company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 30% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bastide Le Confort Médical. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 53%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Bastide Le Confort Médical better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Bastide Le Confort Médical you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

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.