Here's What St. Galler Kantonalbank AG's (VTX:SGKN) Shareholder Ownership Structure Looks Like

Every investor in St. Galler Kantonalbank AG (VTX:SGKN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.

St. Galler Kantonalbank has a market capitalization of CHF2.5b, so we would expect some institutional investors to have noticed the stock. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about St. Galler Kantonalbank.

View our latest analysis for St. Galler Kantonalbank

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About St. Galler Kantonalbank?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that St. Galler Kantonalbank 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see St. Galler Kantonalbank's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

St. Galler Kantonalbank is not owned by hedge funds. St. Gallen (Canton of) is currently the company's largest shareholder with 51% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 1.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of St. Galler Kantonalbank

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of St. Galler Kantonalbank AG. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own CHF15m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, with a 40% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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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