Wärtsilä Oyj Abp's (HEL:WRT1V) largest shareholders are individual investors with 45% ownership, institutions own 35%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Wärtsilä Oyj Abp indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 46% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Institutions own 35% of Wärtsilä Oyj Abp

Every investor in Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (HEL:WRT1V) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 45% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And institutions on the other hand have a 35% ownership in the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Wärtsilä Oyj Abp.

Check out our latest analysis for Wärtsilä Oyj Abp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wärtsilä Oyj Abp?

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.

We can see that Wärtsilä Oyj Abp does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Wärtsilä Oyj Abp's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Wärtsilä Oyj Abp is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Investor AB (publ), with ownership of 18%. With 5.4% and 5.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Asset Management Arm and BlackRock, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. 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 Wärtsilä Oyj Abp

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Wärtsilä Oyj Abp. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own €153m worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 45% stake in Wärtsilä Oyj Abp. 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 18%, private equity firms could influence the Wärtsilä Oyj Abp board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Wärtsilä Oyj Abp better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.