While institutions own 19% of Pfizer Limited (NSE:PFIZER), public companies are its largest shareholders with 64% ownership

Key Insights

• Pfizer's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• Pfizer Inc. owns 62% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Pfizer is 19%

We've discovered 1 warning sign about Pfizer. View them for free.

If you want to know who really controls Pfizer Limited (NSE:PFIZER), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 64% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutions, on the other hand, account for 19% of the company's stockholders. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

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

View our latest analysis for Pfizer

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Pfizer?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Pfizer. The company's largest shareholder is Pfizer Inc., with ownership of 62%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. Life Insurance Corporation of India, Asset Management Arm is the second largest shareholder owning 4.0% of common stock, and Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited holds about 3.8% of the company 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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Pfizer

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Pfizer Limited. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own ₹11m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 14% stake in Pfizer. 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 64% of the Pfizer 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 Pfizer better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Pfizer you should know about.

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.