Basler Aktiengesellschaft's (ETR:BSL) 12% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 54% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Basler by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Basler Beteiligungs-Gmbh & Co. Kg owns 54% of the company
• Institutions own 23% of Basler

If you want to know who really controls Basler Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BSL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 54% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While institutions, who own 23% shares weren’t spared from last week’s €40m market cap drop, private companies as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

See our latest analysis for Basler

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Basler?

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.

Basler already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 Basler's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Basler. Our data shows that Basler Beteiligungs-Gmbh & Co. Kg is the largest shareholder with 54% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. The second and third largest shareholders are 7-Industries Holding B.V. and Invesco Ltd., with an equal amount of shares to their name at 5.1%. In addition, we found that Dietmar Ley, the CEO has 3.7% of the shares allocated to their name.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Basler

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Basler Aktiengesellschaft. It has a market capitalization of just €304m, and insiders have €12m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 19% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Basler. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 54%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the 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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Basler that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.