Sligro Food Group N.V.'s (AMS:SLIGR) market cap dropped €94m last week; Private companies bore the brunt

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Sligro Food Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• 24% of Sligro Food Group is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Sligro Food Group N.V. (AMS:SLIGR), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 49% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, private companies endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 15%.

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

View our latest analysis for Sligro Food Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sligro Food Group?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Sligro Food Group. 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 Sligro Food Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sligro Food Group. Stichting Administratiekantoor Slippens is currently the largest shareholder, with 34% of shares outstanding. NN Group N.V, Asset Management Arm is the second largest shareholder owning 10% of common stock, and Stichting Administratiekantoor Arkelhave B.V. holds about 5.1% of the company stock.

On looking further, we found that 54% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Sligro Food Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Sligro Food Group N.V. in their own names. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It appears that the board holds about €3.1m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of €546m. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 26% stake in Sligro Food Group. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 49%, of the company's shares. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sligro Food Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Sligro Food Group .

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.