Montana Aerospace AG's (VTX:AERO) market cap touched CHF1.2b last week, benefiting both private companies who own 52% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Montana Aerospace by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is Montana Tech Components AG with a 52% stake
• 25% of Montana Aerospace is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Montana Aerospace AG (VTX:AERO), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 52% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While private companies were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 4.4% price gain, institutions also received a 25% cut.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Montana Aerospace.

Check out our latest analysis for Montana Aerospace

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Montana Aerospace?

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 Montana Aerospace. 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 Montana Aerospace, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Montana Aerospace is not owned by hedge funds. Montana Tech Components AG is currently the company's largest shareholder with 52% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.1% and 5.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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

Insider Ownership Of Montana Aerospace

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Montana Aerospace AG. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around CHF90m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 16% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Montana Aerospace. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 52%, of the Montana Aerospace stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.