While individual investors own 16% of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. (EPA:DIM), public companies are its largest shareholders with 71% ownership

Key Insights

• Sartorius Stedim Biotech's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Sartorius Aktiengesellschaft with a 71% stake
• Institutions own 13% of Sartorius Stedim Biotech

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A look at the shareholders of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. (EPA:DIM) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 71% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 16% of the company's stockholders.

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

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 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 Sartorius Stedim Biotech's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sartorius Stedim Biotech. Sartorius Aktiengesellschaft is currently the company's largest shareholder with 71% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 1.2% and 1.2% of the stock.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

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. 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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. in their own names. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own €5.9k of stock. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 16% 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 71% of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Sartorius Stedim Biotech that you should be aware of.

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.