Andritz AG's (VIE:ANDR) top owners are retail investors with 37% stake, while 32% is held by private companies

Key Insights

• Significant control over Andritz by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 14 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 31% of Andritz is held by Institutions

Every investor in Andritz AG (VIE:ANDR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 37% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And private companies on the other hand have a 32% ownership in the company.

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

See our latest analysis for Andritz

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Andritz?

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.

Andritz already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Andritz's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Andritz. Custos Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH is currently the largest shareholder, with 31% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 4.2% and 2.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 14 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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

Insider Ownership Of Andritz

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

With a 37% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Andritz. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 32%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Andritz better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Andritz (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.