private companies who own 42% along with institutions invested in Exosens (EPA:EXENS) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Exosens indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 5 shareholders own 55% of the company
• 30% of Exosens is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Exosens (EPA:EXENS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 42% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 9.1% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 30% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Exosens.

Check out our latest analysis for Exosens

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Exosens?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Exosens 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 Exosens, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Exosens. HLD Europe S.C.A. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 25% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 9.8% and 7.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Furthermore, CEO Jerome Cerisier is the owner of 1.9% of the company's shares.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 5 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Exosens

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

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Exosens. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €50m. Most would see this as a real positive. 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

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 7.2%, private equity firms could influence the Exosens board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 42%, 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 Exosens better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Exosens is showing 1 warning sign 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.