Both individual investors who control a good portion of Thermador Groupe SA (EPA:THEP) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 7.7% decrease

Key Insights

• Significant control over Thermador Groupe by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 16 shareholders
• Insiders own 18% of Thermador Groupe

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Thermador Groupe SA (EPA:THEP), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 39% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 7.7% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 34% stock also took a hit.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Thermador Groupe

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Thermador Groupe?

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 Thermador Groupe does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Thermador Groupe's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Thermador Groupe is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Investmentaktiengesellschaft FÜR Langfristige Investoren Tgv, with ownership of 9.0%. With 6.8% and 5.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Crédit Mutuel Equity SCR and FMR LLC are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Guillaume Robin is the owner of 0.8% of the company's shares.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 16 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 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 Thermador Groupe

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.

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 maintain a significant holding in Thermador Groupe SA. Insiders have a €119m stake in this €676m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 39% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Thermador Groupe. 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

Private equity firms hold a 6.8% stake in Thermador Groupe. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 3.4%, of the shares on issue. 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:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

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.

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.

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