Local firms have increased their holdings in Co-operative Bank of Kenya by 98.97 million shares currently valued at Sh3.75 billion since the start of 2025 as individual investors made profit-taking trades amid a rally in the stock.
Shareholding disclosures show that local firms, including Saccos held 4.88 billion Co-op Bank shares in July this year, up from 4.78 billion at the end of December 2024.
This has lifted their stake from 81.53 percent to 83.21 percent currently valued at Sh184.78 billion.
Over the same period, local individuals reduced their holdings by 95.48 million shares to 966.29 million from 1.061 billion, cutting their stake to 16.42 percent from 18.1 percent.
Co-op Bank has a unique ownership structure in which saccos collectively control a 64.56 percent stake of 3.787 billion shares through Co-opholdings Co-operative Society Limited, an investment vehicle of the co-operative movement.
The remaining 35.44 percent comprises shares that are freely traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
The latest shift in the lender’s shareholding comes against a period of renewed investor interest in large listed companies as earnings, dividends and expectations of improved economic conditions influence trading on the NSE.
Co-op Bank had maintained a dividend of Sh1.50 per share between 2022 and 2024 but raised the distribution by 66.7 percent to Sh2.50 in 2025 amid increasing profitability. The move contributed to the rise in share price, giving individuals room to exit profitably as firms taking a longer-term view piled into the stock.
The bank’s shares closed on Thursday at Sh37.85, up from Sh23.91 at the end of 2025 and Sh16.91 on December 30, 2024. This means the stock had gained 58.3 percent between the end of last year and now, while its value had more than doubled since the start of 2025.
The movement in share price amid increasing dominance of local corporate investors in the lender's shareholder base has come at a time when the stock has emerged as one of the stronger performers on the NSE. Year-to-date, I&M leads among banks with 83 percent gain, followed by DTB (66 percent).
The NSE has this year gained 41 percent or Sh1.209 trillion, taking the market capitalization to Sh4.154 trillion, pointing to the rally among stocks in diverse sectors including banking, insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing and agriculture.
The rally in Co-op Bank shares has been supported by growing demand for the shares with the lender's disclosures pointing to increased buying interest from local firms.
The bank's shareholder distribution data shows the number of investors holding more than one million shares fell by 18 to 192, even as this group increased its collective stake by 24.47 million shares, pointing to greater concentration of Co-op Bank stock among the largest shareholders.
The number of shareholders holding between 5,001 and one million shares dropped by 441 to 45,844, while their combined holdings fell by 29.25 million shares.
However, Co-op Bank attracted 9,931 new shareholders with holdings of between one and 500 shares, who added 1.08 million shares to the register. The number of investors holding between 501 and 5,000 shares also increased by 2,426, adding 3.7 million shares. The increase in institutional ownership has been accompanied by growth in the number of local companies holding the stock.
The number of local companies with investment in Co-op Bank rose to 3,225 in July from 3,007 at the end of 2024, marking an increase of 218 investors. Over the same period, the number of local individual investors increased to 111,371 from 98,588 amid a decline in their aggregate holdings.
The fall in aggregate shares held by local individuals amid a rise in their number suggests that existing investors were reducing their stakes amid new retail shareholders joining but purchasing fewer shares.
Foreign investors have also reduced their exposure to the lender, with their holding falling by 4.28 million shares to 11.83 million. Foreign individuals cut theirs by 285,306 to 3.51 million units. Co-op Bank posted a 28 percent growth in net profit to Sh18.02 billion in the first half of the year ended June 2026, driven by increased interest and non-interest income.
The half-year performance builds on 2025's when the lender’s full-year net earnings grew to Sh29.75 billion from Sh25.45 billion.
Co-op Bank has enjoyed growth over the years by doubling down on its local expansion unlike its peers like KCB and Equity, which have depended on regional expansion for growth.
Market research firm Statista and Forbes recently ranked Co-op Bank, KCB Group, Equity Group and Stanbic Holdings among the world’s 500 top-performing banks based on four main measures including profitability, growth and earnings quality, capital and funding resilience and asset quality and efficiency.
The lender was established in 1968 and converted into a full-fledged commercial bank in 1994, opening doors to other customers beyond co-operatives. The lender listed on the NSE in 2008.
