Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in OCI's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership

• Nassef Onssy Sawiris owns 53% of the company

• Institutional ownership in OCI is 30%

If you want to know who really controls OCI N.V. (AMS:OCI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 53% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 3.8% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of OCI.

See our latest analysis for OCI

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About OCI?

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 OCI. 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 OCI's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in OCI. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In OCI's case, its Top Key Executive, Nassef Onssy Sawiris, is the largest shareholder, holding 53% of shares outstanding. With 4.3% and 3.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, UBS Asset Management AG and Orascom Tmt Investments S.à R.L. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 OCI

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.