Institutions along with private companies who hold considerable shares inVusionGroup S.A. (EPA:VU) come under pressure; lose 3.4% of holdings value

Key Insights

• Significant control over VusionGroup by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 55% ownership
• Insiders own 13% of VusionGroup

To get a sense of who is truly in control of VusionGroup S.A. (EPA:VU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 32% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions, who own 23% shares weren’t spared from last week’s €70m market cap drop, private companies as a group suffered the maximum losses

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of VusionGroup.

Check out our latest analysis for VusionGroup

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About VusionGroup?

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 VusionGroup. 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 VusionGroup'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 VusionGroup. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Beijing Electronics Holding Co.,Ltd with 32% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 5.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, S. E. Sim and Bpifrance Participations SA are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Thierry Gadou is the owner of 1.4% of the company's shares.

On looking further, we found that 55% 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 it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 VusionGroup

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of VusionGroup S.A.. Insiders own €267m worth of shares in the €2.0b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 5.8% stake in VusionGroup. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 32%, of the company's shares. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 7.4% of VusionGroup. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.