Yahoo Finance Institutions own 23% of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ETR:AFX) shares but private companies control 59% of the company
Key Insights
Carl Zeiss Meditec's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
The largest shareholder of the company is Carl Zeiss Stiftung AG with a 59% stake
A look at the shareholders of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ETR:AFX) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 59% to be precise, is private companies. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Institutions, on the other hand, account for 23% of the company's stockholders. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Carl Zeiss Meditec.
Check out our latest analysis for Carl Zeiss Meditec
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Carl Zeiss Meditec?
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 Carl Zeiss Meditec. 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. 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 Carl Zeiss Meditec's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Carl Zeiss Meditec is not owned by hedge funds. Carl Zeiss Stiftung AG is currently the company's largest shareholder with 59% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. Capital Research and Management Company is the second largest shareholder owning 2.9% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 2.0% of the company stock.
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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Carl Zeiss Meditec
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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 18% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Private Company Ownership
We can see that Private Companies own 59%, 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.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Carl Zeiss Meditec better, we need to consider many other factors.
I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.
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.
