Private equity firms who hold 50% of Safilo Group S.p.A. (BIT:SFL) gained 12%, institutions profited as well

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private equity firms in Safilo Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 65% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• 26% of Safilo Group is held by Institutions

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A look at the shareholders of Safilo Group S.p.A. (BIT:SFL) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that private equity firms own the lion's share in the company with 50% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Private equity firms gained the most after market cap touched €582m last week, while institutions who own 26% also benefitted.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Safilo Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Safilo Group?

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.

We can see that Safilo Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Safilo Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Safilo Group is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is HAL Holding N.V. with 50% of shares outstanding. BDL Capital Management SAS is the second largest shareholder owning 15% of common stock, and Norges Bank Investment Management holds about 2.6% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Safilo Group

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% 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

With an ownership of 50%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Safilo Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Safilo Group that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.