Both individual investors who control a good portion of ams-OSRAM AG (VTX:AMS) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 6.4% decrease

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in ams-OSRAM indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 38% ownership
• Institutions own 44% of ams-OSRAM

A look at the shareholders of ams-OSRAM AG (VTX:AMS) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 56% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions who own 44% came under pressure after market cap dropped to CHF1.4b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of ams-OSRAM.

View our latest analysis for ams-OSRAM

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ams-OSRAM?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in ams-OSRAM. Our data shows that UBS Asset Management AG is the largest shareholder with 5.6% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.5% and 4.4% of the stock.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 ams-OSRAM

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of ams-OSRAM AG. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own CHF1.2m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 56% of ams-OSRAM shares. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for ams-OSRAM you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.

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.