With a 41% stake, Sunrise Communications AG (NASDAQ:SNRE) insiders have a lot riding on the company

Key Insights

• Sunrise Communications' significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutions own 13% of Sunrise Communications

If you want to know who really controls Sunrise Communications AG (NASDAQ:SNRE), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 41% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

So, insiders of Sunrise Communications have a lot at stake and every decision they make on the company’s future is important to them from a financial point of view.

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

See our latest analysis for Sunrise Communications

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sunrise Communications?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Sunrise Communications. 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. 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 Sunrise Communications, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 9.9% of Sunrise Communications. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. John Malone is currently the company's largest shareholder with 41% of shares outstanding. The Baupost Group, L.L.C. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.9% of common stock, and Norges Bank Investment Management holds about 3.0% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 Sunrise Communications

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Sunrise Communications AG. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful US$1.8b stake in this US$4.3b business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 36% stake in Sunrise Communications. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sunrise Communications better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Sunrise Communications 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.