Yahoo Finance Individual investors are Clariant AG's (VTX:CLN) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by CHF181m last week
Key Insights
Clariant's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
A look at the shareholders of Clariant AG (VTX:CLN) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 39% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
As a result, individual investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 4.2% gain.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Clariant, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Clariant
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Clariant?
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
Clariant already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Clariant's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Clariant is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Saudi Arabian Oil Company with 32% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 3.8% and 3.5%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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 Clariant
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.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Clariant AG. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own CHF107m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
With a 39% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Clariant. 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
We can see that Private Companies own 3.5%, of the shares on issue. 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.
Public Company Ownership
It appears to us that public companies own 32% of Clariant. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Clariant has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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.
