individual investors who own 53% along with institutions invested in Compagnie Financière Richemont SA (VTX:CFR) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• Compagnie Financière Richemont's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 36% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 37% of Compagnie Financière Richemont is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Compagnie Financière Richemont SA (VTX:CFR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 53% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched CHF87b last week, while institutions who own 37% also benefitted.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Compagnie Financière Richemont, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Compagnie Financière Richemont

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Compagnie Financière Richemont?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Compagnie Financière Richemont. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Compagnie Financière Richemont's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Compagnie Financière Richemont. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Compagnie Financière Richemont's case, its Top Key Executive, Johann Rupert, is the largest shareholder, holding 8.8% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 3.4% and 3.0% of the stock.

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

Insider Ownership Of Compagnie Financière Richemont

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth CHF7.7b. Most would say this shows a good alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 53% stake in Compagnie Financière Richemont, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. 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.

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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Compagnie Financière Richemont you should know about.

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.

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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.