While institutions invested in PolyPeptide Group AG (VTX:PPGN) benefited from last week's 6.7% gain, private companies stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in PolyPeptide Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 56% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Draupnir Holding B.V.)
• Institutions own 23% of PolyPeptide Group

If you want to know who really controls PolyPeptide Group AG (VTX:PPGN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 56% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 6.7% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 23% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of PolyPeptide Group.

See our latest analysis for PolyPeptide Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About PolyPeptide Group?

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.

PolyPeptide Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 PolyPeptide Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

PolyPeptide Group is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Draupnir Holding B.V., with ownership of 56%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.2% and 3.3% of the stock. In addition, we found that Juan Gonzalez, the CEO has 0.7% of the shares allocated to their name.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of PolyPeptide Group

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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in PolyPeptide Group 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 CHF44m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over PolyPeptide Group. 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 56%, of the PolyPeptide Group stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand PolyPeptide Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - PolyPeptide Group has 1 warning sign we think 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.