Retail investors invested in Andritz AG (VIE:ANDR) copped the brunt of last week's €198m market cap decline

Key Insights

• Andritz's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 15 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Andritz is 30%

A look at the shareholders of Andritz AG (VIE:ANDR) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 38% 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 last week, retail investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 3.4%.

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

Check out 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.

We can see that Andritz does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Andritz, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Andritz. The company's largest shareholder is Custos Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH, with ownership of 31%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.8% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Andritz

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Andritz. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 32%, of the Andritz stock. 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:

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. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Andritz that you should be aware of.

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.

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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.