If you want to know who really controls St. Galler Kantonalbank AG (VTX:SGKN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.
St. Galler Kantonalbank isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of CHF2.6b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about SGKN.
View our latest analysis for St. Galler Kantonalbank
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About St. Galler Kantonalbank?
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.
We can see that St. Galler Kantonalbank does have institutional investors; and they hold 7.5% of the stock. 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 St. Galler Kantonalbank, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
St. Galler Kantonalbank is not owned by hedge funds. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.
Insider Ownership Of St. Galler Kantonalbank
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.
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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of St. Galler Kantonalbank AG. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own CHF12m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.