Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after Pricer AB (publ)'s (STO:PRIC B) market cap dropped by kr209m

Key Insights

• Pricer's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 11 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Pricer AB (publ) (STO:PRIC B), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 47% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 13% price drop, institutions with their 37% holdings also suffered.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Pricer.

See our latest analysis for Pricer

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Pricer?

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 Pricer. 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 Pricer's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Pricer. Notz, Stucki Europe S.A. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10% and 7.5%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 11 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 Pricer

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Pricer AB (publ). Insiders have a kr223m stake in this kr1.4b business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Pricer. 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.

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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.