While institutions own 37% of Roche Holding AG (VTX:ROG), retail investors are its largest shareholders with 55% ownership

Key Insights

• Significant control over Roche Holding by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 32% of the company
• 37% of Roche Holding is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Roche Holding AG (VTX:ROG), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 55% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, institutions make up 37% of the company’s shareholders. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Roche Holding.

View our latest analysis for Roche Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Roche 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.

We can see that Roche Holding does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Roche Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Roche Holding. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Andreas Oeri with 5.2% of shares outstanding. With 4.0% and 3.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Andre Hoffmann are the second and third largest shareholders. Andre Hoffmann, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Vice Chairman.

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.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Roche Holding

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Roche Holding AG. Insiders own CHF19b worth of shares (at current prices). 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

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 55% of Roche Holding. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Roche Holding .

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.