Here's What Swissquote Group Holding Ltd's (VTX:SQN) Shareholder Ownership Structure Looks Like

A look at the shareholders of Swissquote Group Holding Ltd (VTX:SQN) 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. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

Swissquote Group Holding has a market capitalization of CHF1.5b, so we would expect some institutional investors to have noticed the stock. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows 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 Swissquote Group Holding.

See our latest analysis for Swissquote Group Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Swissquote Group Holding?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Swissquote Group Holding. 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 Swissquote Group Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Swissquote Group Holding. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Marc Bürki with 13% of shares outstanding. Paolo Buzzi is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and PostFinance AG, Asset Management Arm holds about 5.2% of the company stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Paolo Buzzi is also Chief Technology Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

We did some more digging and found that 9 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 Swissquote Group Holding

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.

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 insiders maintain a significant holding in Swissquote Group Holding Ltd. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful CHF469m stake in this CHF1.5b business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 30% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Swissquote Group Holding. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 3.6%, of the Swissquote Group Holding 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 3.1% of Swissquote Group Holding stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Swissquote Group Holding better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Swissquote Group Holding that you should be aware of before investing here.

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. 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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