Institutions along with retail investors who hold considerable shares inEpendion AB (STO:EPEN) come under pressure; lose 11% of holdings value

Key Insights

• Significant control over Ependion by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Recent sales by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Ependion AB (STO:EPEN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 37% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions who own 34% came under pressure after market cap dropped to kr2.9b last week,retail investors took the most losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Ependion.

See our latest analysis for Ependion

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ependion?

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.

Ependion 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. 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 Ependion, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Ependion is not owned by hedge funds. Stena AB (publ) is currently the company's largest shareholder with 27% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 14% and 8.9% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Ependion

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 can report that insiders do own shares in Ependion AB. As individuals, the insiders collectively own kr48m worth of the kr2.9b company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 37% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 27%, 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Ependion you should be aware of.

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.