Nabaltec AG's (ETR:NTG) most bullish insider, CEO Johannes Heckmann must be pleased with the recent 13% gain

Key Insights

• Nabaltec's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 2 shareholders own 55% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Nabaltec is 24%

If you want to know who really controls Nabaltec AG (ETR:NTG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 55% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. 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 €15m last week.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Nabaltec

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nabaltec?

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 Nabaltec 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 Nabaltec's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Nabaltec. With a 28% stake, CEO Johannes Heckmann is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 27% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of 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. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Nabaltec

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 own more than half of Nabaltec AG. This gives them effective control of the company. That means they own €70m worth of shares in the €127m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 21% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Nabaltec better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Nabaltec you should know about.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.