Both individual investors who control a good portion of SES S.A. (BDL:SESGL) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 7.4% decrease

Key Insights

• Significant control over SES by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 49% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Institutions own 31% of SES

A look at the shareholders of SES S.A. (BDL:SESGL) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions who own 31% came under pressure after market cap dropped to €1.3b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

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

View our latest analysis for SES

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SES?

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.

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

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in SES. The company's largest shareholder is Lazard Asset Management LLC, with ownership of 7.7%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of SES

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 52% of SES. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 11%, of the SES stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the 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 instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for SES that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.