While individual investors own 27% of APG|SGA SA (VTX:APGN), private companies are its largest shareholders with 59% ownership

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Sun, Dec 8, 2024, 9:49 PM 4 min read

Key Insights

Significant control over APG|SGA by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 55% ownership
Institutions own 14% of APG|SGA

To get a sense of who is truly in control of APG|SGA SA (VTX:APGN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 59% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 27% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of APG|SGA, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for APG|SGA

ownership-breakdown — SWX:APGN Ownership Breakdown December 9th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About APG|SGA?

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 APG|SGA does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's 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 APG|SGA, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — SWX:APGN Earnings and Revenue Growth December 9th 2024

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in APG|SGA. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is NZZ-Mediengruppe with 25% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 17% and 14% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of APG|SGA

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. 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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of APG|SGA SA in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It appears that the board holds about CHF3.3m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of CHF574m. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 27% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over APG|SGA. 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 Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 59%, of the APG|SGA 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand APG|SGA better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for APG|SGA you should be aware of.

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.