While individual investors own 20% of DiaSorin S.p.A. (BIT:DIA), private equity firms are its largest shareholders with 46% ownership

Key Insights

• Significant control over DiaSorin by private equity firms implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 20% of DiaSorin is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls DiaSorin S.p.A. (BIT:DIA), 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 private equity firms with 46% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And individual investors on the other hand have a 20% ownership in the company.

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

View our latest analysis for DiaSorin

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About DiaSorin?

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.

We can see that DiaSorin does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 DiaSorin, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in DiaSorin. The company's largest shareholder is Investimenti e Partecipazioni Spa, with ownership of 46%. Carlo Rosa is the second largest shareholder owning 4.6% of common stock, and M.C. S.R.L. holds about 4.3% of the company stock. Carlo Rosa, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 51% stake.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of DiaSorin

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. 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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in DiaSorin S.p.A.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €249m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 20% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over DiaSorin. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 46%, private equity firms could influence the DiaSorin board. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 9.6%, of the DiaSorin stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand DiaSorin better, we need to consider many other factors.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.