What Type Of Shareholders Make Up AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft's (VIE:ATS) Share Registry?

If you want to know who really controls AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft (VIE:ATS), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership.

AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of €1.4b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik.

View our latest analysis for AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik. 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. 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 AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik is not owned by hedge funds. Johannes Dörflinger-Stiftung, Endowment Arm is currently the company's largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. With 18% and 2.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Androsch Privatstiftung and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

We note our data does not show any board members 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

The general public collectively holds 52% of AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 18%, of the company's shares. 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 AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.

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.

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