Henry Boot PLC (LON:BOOT) insiders have significant skin in the game with 31% ownership

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Sat, Nov 23, 2024, 2:25 AM 4 min read

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Henry Boot PLC (LON:BOOT), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 31% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

With such a notable stake in the company, insiders would be highly incentivised to make value accretive decisions.

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

View our latest analysis for Henry Boot

ownership-breakdown — LSE:BOOT Ownership Breakdown November 23rd 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Henry Boot?

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.

We can see that Henry Boot does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Henry Boot's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — LSE:BOOT Earnings and Revenue Growth November 23rd 2024

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Henry Boot. Our data shows that Jonathan Sykes is the largest shareholder with 15% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 6.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 10 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 Henry Boot

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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Henry Boot PLC. Insiders have a UK£93m stake in this UK£297m business. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 29% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 8.7%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Henry Boot you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.