Surgical Science Sweden AB (publ) (STO:SUS) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 2.7% loss over the past year

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Surgical Science Sweden AB (publ) (STO:SUS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 36% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 8.9% increase in share prices last week, given their one-year returns have been disappointing at 2.7%.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Surgical Science Sweden.

View our latest analysis for Surgical Science Sweden

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Surgical Science Sweden?

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 Surgical Science Sweden. 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. 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 Surgical Science Sweden's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Surgical Science Sweden. Jan Bengtsson is currently the largest shareholder, with 16% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 12% and 6.4% of the stock. Furthermore, CEO Gisli Hennermark is the owner of 0.7% of the company's shares.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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

Insider Ownership Of Surgical Science Sweden

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

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Surgical Science Sweden AB (publ). Insiders have a kr2.3b stake in this kr7.7b business. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 30% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Surgical Science Sweden. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.5%, of the company's shares. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Surgical Science Sweden better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Surgical Science Sweden is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.