Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 31% loss over the past year

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• The top 3 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 35% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors would appreciate the 3.4% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 31%.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile?

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.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Inversiones SQYA S.A with 25% of shares outstanding. With 22% and 4.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Tianqi Lithium Corporation and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 51% stake.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile

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.

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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 17% stake in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 26%, of the Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile stock. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 22% of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile that you should be aware of before investing here.

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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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.