Louis Hachette Group S.A.'s (EPA:ALHG) market cap surged €66m last week, individual investors who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• Significant control over Louis Hachette Group by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 16 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutions own 11% of Louis Hachette Group

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Every investor in Louis Hachette Group S.A. (EPA:ALHG) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 49% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, individual investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 4.4% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Louis Hachette Group.

Check out our latest analysis for Louis Hachette Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Louis Hachette Group?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Louis Hachette Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Louis Hachette Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Louis Hachette Group. Our data shows that Bolloré Participations is the largest shareholder with 31% of shares outstanding. Arnaud Lagardere is the second largest shareholder owning 8.6% of common stock, and UBS Asset Management AG holds about 2.3% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Louis Hachette Group

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 see that insiders own shares in Louis Hachette Group S.A.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around €134m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 49% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Louis Hachette Group. 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 31%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Louis Hachette Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Louis Hachette Group (including 1 which is potentially serious) .

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.