Key Insights

• DSM-Firmenich's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

• The top 25 shareholders own 47% of the company

• 26% of DSM-Firmenich is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls DSM-Firmenich AG (AMS:DSFIR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 38% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s €1.7b market cap gain, institutions too had a 35% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of DSM-Firmenich, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for DSM-Firmenich

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About DSM-Firmenich?

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.

DSM-Firmenich already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 DSM-Firmenich, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in DSM-Firmenich. Norges Bank Investment Management is currently the company's largest shareholder with 4.9% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.1% by the third-largest shareholder.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of DSM-Firmenich

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of DSM-Firmenich AG. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful €8.4b stake in this €32b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over DSM-Firmenich. 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 DSM-Firmenich better, we need to consider many other factors.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.