Medartis Holding AG's (VTX:MED) most bullish insider is Top Key Executive Thomas Straumann, and their holdings value went up by 7.2% last week

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over Medartis Holding implies vested interests in company growth
• 53% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Institutions own 22% of Medartis Holding

Every investor in Medartis Holding AG (VTX:MED) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 47% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit CHF874m market cap following a 7.2% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Medartis Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Medartis Holding?

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 Medartis Holding. 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 Medartis Holding's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Medartis Holding is not owned by hedge funds. Our data suggests that Thomas Straumann, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 41%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.8% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Medartis Holding

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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Medartis Holding AG. Insiders own CHF407m worth of shares in the CHF874m company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 5.7%, private equity firms could influence the Medartis Holding board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 6.8%, of the Medartis 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Medartis Holding better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Medartis Holding (1 is concerning) that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.