Why SW Umwelttechnik Stoiser & Wolschner AG's (VIE:SWUT) Investor Composition Impacts Your Returns

I am going to take a deep dive into SW Umwelttechnik Stoiser & Wolschner AG’s (VIE:SWUT) most recent ownership structure, not a frequent subject of discussion among individual investors. The impact of a company's ownership structure affects both its short- and long-term performance. The effect of an active institutional investor with a similar ownership as a passive pension-fund can be vastly different on a company's corporate governance and accountability to shareholders. While this may be more interesting for long-term investors, short-term investors can also benefit by paying attention to when these institutions trade in order to take advantage of the heightened volatility. Therefore, I will take a look at SWUT's shareholders in more detail.

Check out our latest analysis for SW Umwelttechnik Stoiser & Wolschner

Institutional Ownership

SWUT's 45.41% institutional ownership seems enough to cause large share price movements in the case of significant share sell-off or acquisitions by institutions, particularly when there is a low level of public shares available on the market to trade. Although SWUT has a high institutional ownership, such stock moves, in the short-term, are more commonly linked to a particular type of active institutional investors – hedge funds. For shareholders in SWUT, sharp price movements may not be a major concern as active hedge funds hold a relatively small stake in the company. Although this doesn't necessarily lead to high short-term volatility, we should dig deeper into SWUT's ownership structure to find how the remaining owner types can affect its investment profile.

Insider Ownership

Insiders form a group of important ownership types as they manage the company's operations and decide the best use of capital. Insider ownership has been linked to better alignment between management and shareholders. 5.00% ownership makes insiders an important shareholder group. This level of stake with insiders indicate highly aligned interests of shareholders and company executives. However, it would be interesting to take a look at their buying and selling activities lately. Buying may be sign of upbeat future expectations, but selling doesn't necessarily mean the opposite as the insiders may be motivated by financial needs or they are simply diversifying their risk.

General Public Ownership

A big stake of 44.59% in SWUT is held by the general public. With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in major company policies that affect shareholders returns, including executive remuneration and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to decline an acquisition or merger that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

Another important group of owners for potential investors in SWUT are private companies that hold a stake of 5.00% in SWUT. These are companies that are mainly invested due to their strategic interests or are incentivized by reaping capital gains on investments their shareholdings. This kind of ownership, if predominantly strategic, can give these companies a significant power to affect SWUT's business strategy. Thus, potential investors should look into these business relations and check how it can impact long-term shareholder returns.

Next Steps:

SWUT's considerably high level of institutional ownership calls for further analysis into its margin of safety. This will enable shareholders to comfortably invest in the company while avoid getting trapped in a sustained sell-off that is often observed in stocks with this level of institutional participation. However, ownership structure should not be the only focus of your research when constructing an investment thesis around SWUT. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as the intrinsic valuation, which is a key driver of SW Umwelttechnik Stoiser & Wolschner’s share price. I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for SWUT’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for SWUT’s outlook.
2. Past Track Record: Has SWUT been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of SWUT's historicals for more clarity.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.