Dassault Systèmes SE (EPA:DSY) stock most popular amongst private companies who own 41%, while individual investors hold 28%

Key Insights

• Dassault Systèmes' significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Dassault Systèmes is 22%

If you want to know who really controls Dassault Systèmes SE (EPA:DSY), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 41% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 28% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Dassault Systèmes, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Dassault Systèmes

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dassault Systèmes?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Dassault Systèmes. 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 Dassault Systèmes' 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 Dassault Systèmes. Our data shows that Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault is the largest shareholder with 41% of shares outstanding. Charles Edelstenne is the second largest shareholder owning 6.1% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 2.5% of the company stock. Charles Edelstenne, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Top Key Executive. In addition, we found that Bernard Charles, the CEO has 1.9% of the shares allocated to their name.

On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of 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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Dassault Systèmes

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Dassault Systèmes SE. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €3.9b. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 28% stake in Dassault Systèmes. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 41%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private 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.