Institutional investors in SPIE SA (EPA:SPIE) lost 6.4% last week but have reaped the benefits of longer-term growth

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in SPIE implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 20 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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If you want to know who really controls SPIE SA (EPA:SPIE), 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 55% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Losing money on investments is something no shareholder enjoys, least of all institutional investors who saw their holdings value drop by 6.4% last week. However, the 32% one-year return to shareholders may have helped lessen their pain. But they would probably be wary of future losses.

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

Check out our latest analysis for SPIE

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SPIE?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in SPIE. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 SPIE's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in SPIE. Our data shows that SPIE SA, ESOP is the largest shareholder with 7.6% of shares outstanding. Amundi Asset Management SAS is the second largest shareholder owning 6.5% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 5.8% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Gauthier Louette, the CEO has 1.8% of the shares allocated to their name.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 20 have the combined ownership of 51% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over 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. 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 SPIE

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in SPIE SA. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €145m. we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 36% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over SPIE. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand SPIE better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that SPIE is showing 3 warning signs 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.