Uniphar plc's (ISE:UPR) market cap dropped €53m last week; individual investors who hold 50% were hit as were institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Uniphar indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 49% ownership
• Recent sales by insiders

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If you want to know who really controls Uniphar plc (ISE:UPR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 50% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While institutions, who own 45% shares weren’t spared from last week’s €53m market cap drop, retail investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

See our latest analysis for Uniphar

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Uniphar?

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 Uniphar 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Uniphar's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Uniphar. The company's largest shareholder is Allianz Asset Management GmbH, with ownership of 11%. Polar Capital Holdings Plc is the second largest shareholder owning 5.8% of common stock, and Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. holds about 4.3% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Gerard Rabbette is the owner of 2.9% of the company's shares.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Uniphar

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Uniphar plc. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €46m. Most would see this as a real positive. Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 50% stake in Uniphar, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Uniphar better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Uniphar is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.