Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Sensirion Holding's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

• A total of 10 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

• 21% of Sensirion Holding is held by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Sensirion Holding AG (VTX:SENS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 44% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 14% increase in share prices after a year of 18% losses as a sign that returns are likely to begin trending higher.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Sensirion Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sensirion Holding?

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.

Sensirion Holding already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Sensirion Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Sensirion Holding is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is EGS Beteiligungen AG, with ownership of 11%. 7-Industries Holding B.V. is the second largest shareholder owning 11% of common stock, and Moritz Lechner holds about 5.5% of the company stock. Moritz Lechner, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Co-Chairman of the Board.

We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 Sensirion Holding

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Sensirion Holding AG. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful CHF240m stake in this CHF1.1b 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

With a 36% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sensirion Holding. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Sensirion Holding (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.