Institutional owners may take dramatic actions as INFICON Holding AG's (VTX:IFCN) recent 5.0% drop adds to one-year losses

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in INFICON Holding implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 14 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• 10% of INFICON Holding is held by insiders

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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 50% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And institutional investors endured the highest losses after the company's share price fell by 5.0% last week. This set of investors may especially be concerned about the current loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 8.9% for shareholders. Institutions or "liquidity providers" control large sums of money and therefore, these types of investors usually have a lot of influence over stock price movements. Hence, if weakness in INFICON Holding's share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.

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

See our latest analysis for INFICON Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About INFICON Holding?

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.

We can see that INFICON Holding does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at INFICON Holding's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

INFICON Holding is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Corisol Holding AG is the largest shareholder with 20% of shares outstanding. 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 14 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 INFICON Holding

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of INFICON Holding AG. Insiders own CHF240m worth of shares in the CHF2.4b company. That's quite meaningful. 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

With a 40% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over INFICON Holding. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand INFICON Holding better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.