Individual investors account for 40% of Snam S.p.A.'s (BIT:SRG) ownership, while private companies account for 34%

Explore Snam's Fair Values from the Community and select yours

Key Insights

• Significant control over Snam by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 6 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutions own 22% of Snam

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Every investor in Snam S.p.A. (BIT:SRG) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 40% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And private companies on the other hand have a 34% ownership in the company.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Snam

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Snam?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Snam. 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. 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 Snam, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Snam. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. with 31% of shares outstanding. With 5.1% and 5.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Lazard Asset Management LLC and BlackRock, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 Snam

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Snam S.p.A.. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own €775m worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 40% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 34%, 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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Snam (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.