adesso SE (ETR:ADN1) Top Key Executive Volker Gruhn's holdings dropped 7.2% in value as a result of the recent pullback

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in adesso's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 56% ownership
• Institutions own 21% of adesso

A look at the shareholders of adesso SE (ETR:ADN1) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 52% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by €50m.

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

See our latest analysis for adesso

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About adesso?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in adesso. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is Volker Gruhn (who also holds the title of Top Key Executive) with 26% of shares outstanding. Its usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider play the role of a key stakeholder. Rainer Rudolf is the second largest shareholder owning 16% of common stock, and RDF Familienstiftung holds about 13% of the company stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Rainer Rudolf is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of 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 adesso

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. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems that insiders own more than half the adesso SE stock. This gives them a lot of power. So they have a €333m stake in this €640m business. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 14% stake in adesso. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 13%, of the adesso stock. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand adesso better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for adesso you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

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.