If you want to know who really controls Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ:PTNR), 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 38% 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).

Meanwhile, institutions make up 34% of the company’s shareholders. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.

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

View our latest analysis for Partner Communications

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Partner Communications?

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Partner Communications. S.B. Israel Telecom Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 27% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.2% and 6.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 7 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% 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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Partner Communications

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.