Private companies account for 59% of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's (ETR:AFX) ownership, while individual investors account for 21%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Carl Zeiss Meditec indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 59% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Carl Zeiss Stiftung AG)
• Institutional ownership in Carl Zeiss Meditec is 20%

Every investor in Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ETR:AFX) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 59% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 21% of the company's stockholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Carl Zeiss Meditec, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Carl Zeiss Meditec

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Carl Zeiss Meditec?

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.

We can see that Carl Zeiss Meditec 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 Carl Zeiss Meditec, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Carl Zeiss Meditec. Carl Zeiss Stiftung AG is currently the company's largest shareholder with 59% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 2.9% and 2.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Capital Research and Management Company and Invesco Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 Carl Zeiss Meditec

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Carl Zeiss Meditec. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 59%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Carl Zeiss Meditec is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.