What Is The Ownership Structure Like For Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) (STO:SEB A)?

The big shareholder groups in Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) (STO:SEB A) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of kr202b, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) is rather large. We'd expect to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are usually well known to retail investors, too. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.).

See our latest analysis for Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.)?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.). 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.)'s historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.). The company's largest shareholder is Investor AB (publ), with ownership of 21%. With 6.6% and 5.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Alecta Pensionsförsäkring AB, Asset Management Arm and Trygg Stiftelsen are the second and third largest shareholders.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 11 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.)

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.

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.

Our information suggests that Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own kr133m of stock. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 34% stake in Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.). While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 21%, 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 5.3%, of the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) 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 Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.) .

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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