Institutions along with retail investors who hold considerable shares inAUTO1 Group SE (ETR:AG1) come under pressure; lose 5.3% of holdings value

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in AUTO1 Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 13 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 38% of AUTO1 Group is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls AUTO1 Group SE (ETR:AG1), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 48% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 5.3% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 38% stock also took a hit.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of AUTO1 Group.

See our latest analysis for AUTO1 Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About AUTO1 Group?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

AUTO1 Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 AUTO1 Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It looks like hedge funds own 13% of AUTO1 Group shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Cadian Capital Management, LP is the largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. With 10.0% and 5.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Morgan Stanley, Investment Banking and Brokerage Investments and Coronation Fund Managers Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 13 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 AUTO1 Group

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.

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. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 48% stake in AUTO1 Group. 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 AUTO1 Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that AUTO1 Group is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.