SKAN Group AG's (VTX:SKAN) market cap increased by CHF74m, insiders receive a 49% cut

Key Insights

• SKAN Group's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 6 shareholders own 53% of the company
• 31% of SKAN Group is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls SKAN Group AG (VTX:SKAN), 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 49% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Clearly, insiders benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CHF74m last week.

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

See our latest analysis for SKAN Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SKAN Group?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

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

SKAN Group is not owned by hedge funds. H. C. Michel is currently the largest shareholder, with 15% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Gregor Plattner and Vera Plattner, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 11%. Additionally, the company's CEO Thomas Huber directly holds 1.7% of the total shares outstanding.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 SKAN Group

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.

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 SKAN Group AG. It has a market capitalization of just CHF1.8b, and insiders have CHF880m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 20% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Next Steps:

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

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.