Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG's (ETR:EUZ) market cap dropped €98m last week; Individual investors bore the brunt
Simply Wall St
4 min read
Key Insights
The considerable ownership by individual investors in Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
A look at the shareholders of Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ETR:EUZ) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 37% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
And following last week's 9.7% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik, beginning with the chart below.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik?
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 Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik. 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 Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
XTRA:EUZ Earnings and Revenue Growth May 27th 2023
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Eckert Wagniskapital und Frühphasenfinanzierung GmbH with 31% of shares outstanding. Invesco Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 5.1% of common stock, and Norges Bank Investment Management holds about 3.3% of the company stock.
We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 50% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.
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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.
Insider Ownership Of Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
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.
Our information suggests that Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG insiders own under 1% of the company. It seems the board members have no more than €2.1m worth of shares in the €908m company. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
With a 37% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik. 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.
Private Equity Ownership
Private equity firms hold a 31% stake in Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.
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. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik that you should be aware of before investing here.
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.
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