Public companies invested in Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. (EPA:DIM) copped the brunt of last week's €915m market cap decline

Key Insights

• Significant control over Sartorius Stedim Biotech by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is Sartorius Aktiengesellschaft with a 70% stake
• 14% of Sartorius Stedim Biotech is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. (EPA:DIM), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 70% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, public companies endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 4.9%.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Sartorius Stedim Biotech, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Sartorius Stedim Biotech

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sartorius Stedim Biotech?

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.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Sartorius Stedim Biotech's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sartorius Stedim Biotech. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Sartorius Aktiengesellschaft with 70% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. With 1.8% and 1.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and Comgest S.A. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 Sartorius Stedim Biotech

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

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. in their own names. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own €6.0k worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sartorius Stedim Biotech. 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 70% of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sartorius Stedim Biotech better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Sartorius Stedim Biotech has 4 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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.