Cloud Hosting

Key Insights

If you want to know who really controls Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (JSE:HAR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 62% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Harmony Gold Mining.

Check out our latest analysis for Harmony Gold Mining

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 Harmony Gold Mining. 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 Harmony Gold Mining's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Our data indicates that hedge funds own 5.0% of Harmony Gold Mining. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Van Eck Associates Corporation with 18% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 10% of the shares outstanding respectively, African Rainbow Minerals Limited and Public Investment Corporation Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 5 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited in their own names. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own R84m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Harmony Gold Mining. 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.

It appears to us that public companies own 12% of Harmony Gold Mining. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Harmony Gold Mining better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Harmony Gold Mining you should know about.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.

Find out whether Harmony Gold Mining is potentially over or undervalued by checking out our comprehensive analysis, which includes fair value estimates, risks and warnings, dividends, insider transactions and financial health.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

Here is the original post:

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (JSE:HAR) is favoured by institutional owners who hold 62% of the company - Simply Wall St

Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More

JustCall by SaaSLabs, a contact center software provider backed bySequoia Capital, today unveiled JustCall iQ, an AI-driven conversational intelligence platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The solution is designed to enhance the performance of call center sales teams, operations and customer support.

By harnessing the power of AI, JustCall iQ offers real-time coaching and sentiment analysis, aiming to allow call center agents to quickly achieve optimal performance.According to the company, its approach enables agents to achieve peak performance within days instead of the conventional months-long training methods.

JustCall said that the platform, facilitated by an AI bot, automatically records and transcribes all calls, delivering teams a transcript of their meetings. This streamlined process allows managers to conduct efficient call reviews without having to listen for the entire duration.

>>Dont miss our special issue: Building the foundation for customer data quality.<<

Transform 2023

Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls.

After analysis, the system assists sales teams in identifying crucial moments that contribute to successful or unsuccessful calls. This helps sales employees improve their pitches and convert potential leads, while support teams can use the insights to improve customer satisfaction and drive business growth.

Our new offering is a tool that lets you record, transcribe and analyze calls to get useful information that can be used for improved onboarding, continuous training and coaching, Gaurav Sharma, CEO and founder of JustCall, told VentureBeat. Features such as AI-based performance scoring and sentiment analysis are great for agents and managers to improve win/call resolution rates, and our real-time agent assist bot offers prompts to agents to quickly address customer concerns as they happen.

The company claims that early adopters have experienced significant improvements, such as a 44% increase in closed-won rates, a 25% reduction in average handle time and a 32% boost in customer satisfaction.

Sharma emphasized his companys commitment to eliminating guesswork in call analysis and providing valuable insights through post-call reports. These reports offer an overview of each call, including performance assessment, key takeaways, and actionable steps to reinforce successes and address challenges in future calls.

According to him, many businesses with call center managers remain entrenched in outdated call evaluation methods that depend on human monitoring. Not only does this prove costly, it results in many calls going unreviewed.

Turnover rates for call center employees are high compared to other industries, and the work is stressful, dealing with angry customers, strict time limits and repetitive tasks, Sharma told VentureBeat. With JustCall iQ, were helping businesses improve customer experiences to capture the value of every call. We improve feedback and engagement and help guide agents with the right prompts as calls happen.

Sharma asserts that sentiment analysis offers a valuable opportunity for managers to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of their pitches and delivery in customer interactions. By employing emotion detection and language processing, customer sentiment analysis delves deep into customers emotions and reactions.

He said that admins and managers can use sentiment analysis to identify trends that inform their guidance and coaching of agents.

The success of every customer interaction hinges on the real-time reactions and sentiments expressed by customers. Sentiment analysis is crucial in monitoring each calls emotional quotient (EQ), focusing on vital parameters including fluency, empathy, satisfaction, interest levels, excitement levels, politeness and patience, explained Sharma. Organizations learn from precise and unbiased insights delivered after every call, eliminating the guesswork and need for manual data mining, which saves managers valuable time and ensures a more objective analysis of customer interactions.

The company said that online insurance providerApollo Insurancehas adopted the JustCall iQ platform to gain insights into its customer interactions. The platform enables Apollo to track metrics such as text volume, call duration, agent performance and the average communication count that results in conversions.

Likewise,Newity, a small business lender, has used JustCall iQ to improve operational efficiencies in its financial services business. Its sales and support teams use the platforms real-time features, including agent assistance and real-time coaching, increasing their efficiency over a traditional QA team.

Using the analytics has given them valuable insights into whats happening with these calls and texts, said Sharma. Now they can route leads to the agents most likely to convert them to sales which has helped them increase conversions significantly.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.

Continued here:

JustCall launches AI-driven platform to improve call center ops via ... - VentureBeat

Solutions Reviews Premium Content Series is a collection of contributed articles written by industry experts in enterprise software categories. In this feature, Alteryx CIO Trevor Schulze offers commentary on driving value and accelerating innovation amidst budget cuts.

Organizations are under increasing financial and competitive pressure, all while needing to keep up with growing customer demands. They are seeking ways to differentiate performance from peers, prioritize key products and services, and position their companies to thrive in todays competitive market.

Unfortunately, todays current economic climate has many business and IT leaders navigating budget cuts while trying to avoid critical mistakes that could hamper progress toward business goals. But priorities such as digitization, customer experience, time to market, and increasing revenue remain top of mind for business leaders regardless of economic cycles.

Companies that demonstrate resilience during times of crisis invest in ways of working that galvanize innovation by expanding not contracting access to core technologies. IT leaders can turn adversity into opportunity by making informed decisions about where to cut, maintain, or even increase technology spending. After all, those who wisely invest in their digital capabilities and data in a downturn have proven time and time again to come out the other side stronger and pull away from their competition.

Combining the current economy with increased corporate overhead costs, many business and IT leaders feel forced to implement broad-brush budget cuts, which could mean penalizing both efficient parts and high-performing areas of an organization. This can result in lost value and negatively impact the organizations ability to remain competitive.

IT leaders who move too quickly with these cuts in an attempt to streamline operations may very well complicate existing processes and introduce potentially harmful risks to the organization. They need to approach these decisions intentionally using an asset they already have: data.

The mission of data and analytics is to manage data resources and create analytic insight that can help organizations make the most informed decisions to better navigate these rocky times. Further, the ability to squeeze every ounce of strategic and operational insight from company data is increasingly essential to increasing profitability and uncovering new revenue streams that will help the company thrive.

IT leaders who can identify sources of complexity and inefficiency and predict the impact of changes will give stakeholders and decision-makers the confidence to maintain spending on resources that deliver tangible business value. For those looking to trim budget without hampering business acceleration, the following strategies are critical to success:

Data and analytics strategies connected to operating models will put business and IT leaders in a position to positively impact operational costs, reduce exposure to business risk, and deliver on the promise of business value. But first, organizations need to build a culture where data is the basis of every decision and strategy and where all employees are on board with this approach and mindset.

You need to ensure everyone across an organization knows how to use data to make better decisions. Make it easy by providing no-code/low-code automation solutions that enable any employee, regardless of their technical skills, to turn data into powerful business insights. This will help your business more easily navigate the unpreditable climate ahead. Furthermore, investing in democratizing data and analytics results in long-term resilience beyond the budget cuts many organizations are faced with today.

You dont need to always start from zero each time you have a business problem to solve. In fact, the answers you need to make better decisions are often hiding in plain sight, yet not enough organizations are mining through all of their resources. This is a missed opportunity when you consider that organizations that use a variety of data sources and types are best positioned to get insights that lead to improved customer acquisition, retention, and experience.

Oftentimes, business units fall victim to tool sprawl and run up cloud costs on dozens of disconnected tools that cant scale across multiple teams making point solutions easier targets for budget cuts and leaving teams who rely on them in the dust.

Investing in platforms that support multiple personas, unlimited use cases, and feature expansion is key to reducing costs, driving ROI and future proofing investments. Users will also be the first to experiment and take advantage of system updates and new features as theyre introduced, driving faster innovation. Not having to find point solutions for every niche problem you come across will save you from the hassle of onboarding a new vendor every single time, especially considering your platform may be introducing the new capabilities and modules you may very well need.

Case in point: a new study from BCG found that using a data platform and flexible, scalable technology platforms and applications to facilitate data access and support business needs easily and flexibly is one of the key attributes of companies best positioned to move into new high-growth markets.

Another key area of investment to discuss with your stakeholders is to enable your team to do more and increase productivity by doubling down on automation.

Why have knowledge workers spend their time doing manual work in spreadsheets, when they can spend their time working on projects that drive top-line growth and bottom-line returns? Meanwhile, automating mundance tasks can free up IT and data teams to work on complex projects that rely on their technical expertise.

Above all, its essential for business and IT leaders to start every budgetary decision with data. CIOs and their teams require visibility into their tech spending to ensure efficiency and strategic alignment. Todays ever-changing economic climate requires data and analytics to help organizations derive insights for significant competitive and operational advantages in customer acquisition, retention, and experience. Those organizations that will thrive beyond the rocky times will be the ones that regularly examine and benchmark investments across multiple cost views to facilitate smarter spending and better business outcomes.

As Alteryx's Chief Information Officer, Trevor Schulze leads the global IT team in delivering a comprehensive, business-led technology services and solutions portfolio. Before joining Alteryx, Schulze served as RingCentral's Chief Information Officer.

See more here:

Driving Value and Accelerating Business Innovation Amidst Budget ... - Solutions Review