Institutional owners may consider drastic measures as INFICON Holding AG's (VTX:IFCN) recent CHF105m drop adds to long-term losses

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies INFICON Holding's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 18 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 11% of INFICON Holding

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A look at the shareholders of INFICON Holding AG (VTX:IFCN) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 48% to be precise, is institutions. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And institutional investors saw their holdings value drop by 4.3% last week. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 32% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Often called “market movers", institutions wield significant power in influencing the price dynamics of any stock. As a result, if the decline continues, institutional investors may be pressured to sell INFICON Holding which might hurt individual investors.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of INFICON Holding, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for INFICON Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About INFICON Holding?

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 INFICON Holding. 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 INFICON Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in INFICON Holding. The company's largest shareholder is Corisol Holding AG, with ownership of 20%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10% and 7.0% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 18 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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

Insider Ownership Of INFICON 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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of INFICON Holding AG. It has a market capitalization of just CHF2.4b, and insiders have CHF260m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 40% 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:

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 1 warning sign for INFICON Holding 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.