What You Need To Know About AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft's (VIE:ATS) Investor Composition

A look at the shareholders of AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft (VIE:ATS) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of €620m, AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik.

Check out our latest analysis for AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik

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

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik. Johannes Dörflinger-Stiftung, Endowment Arm is currently the company's largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 18% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

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. 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.

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 information suggests that AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It has a market capitalization of just €620m, and the board has only €2.9m worth of shares in their own names. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly retail investors, hold a substantial 51% stake in AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies 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

We can see that Private Companies own 18%, of the shares on issue. 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 AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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. 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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