Institutions profited after Safran SA’s ( EPA:SAF ) market cap surged by 1.8 billion euros last week, but individual investors profited the most.

Basic concepts

• The public’s significant control over Safran suggests that this group likely has significant influence over management and governance decisions.
• The top 25 shareholders own 49% of the company
• owns 44% of Safran

Every investor in Safran SA ( EPA:SAF ) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Individual investors with a 45% stake own the most shares in the company. In other words, the group should gain (or lose) the most from its investment in the company.

While individual investors were the group that benefited the most from last week’s €1.8 billion market cap gain, institutions also had a 44% share of that gain.

Let’s dive deeper into each type of Safran owner, starting with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Safran

What does institutional ownership tell us about Safran?

Institutional investors typically compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly tracked index. Thus, they generally consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that Safran does have institutional investors. and they hold a good chunk of the company’s stock. This implies that analysts at those institutions have looked at the stock and like it. But like everyone else, they can be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you can see the stock price drop quickly. Therefore, it is worth taking a look at Safran’s earnings history below. Of course, the future is really important.

Safran is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is France, with an 11% share. Capital Research and Management Company and Natixis Investment Managers International are the second and third largest shareholders with 7.3% and 7.0% of shares respectively.

In examining our ownership data, we found that 25 of the leading shareholders together own less than 50% of the share register, suggesting that no single individual holds a majority interest.

While researching institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it’s also good practice to research analyst recommendations to gain a deeper understanding of the stock’s expected performance. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it can be helpful to find out their general view on the future.

An internal property of saffron

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and varies between jurisdictions. Our data reflect individual insiders, capturing at least board members. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be members of the executive board, especially if they are founders or CEOs.

Many view insider ownership as a positive because it can indicate that the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, in some cases too much power is concentrated within this group.

From our information, it can be assumed that Safran SA insiders own less than 1% of the company. Since it is a large company, we only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. However, it should be noted that they have shares worth 31 million euros. It’s good to see board members owning stock, but it might be worth checking to see if those insiders have bought in.

Common public property

The general public, usually individual investors, owns 45% of Safran’s shares. This amount of ownership, although significant, may not be sufficient to change company policy if the decision is not synchronized with other major shareholders.

Next steps.

While it is worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are more important.

Many people find it useful an in-depth look at how the company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph about past revenues, earnings and cash flows.

If you prefer to discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, don’t miss this free of charge report on analysts’ forecasts.

Note: The figures in this article are calculated using data for the last twelve months covering the 12-month period ending on the last day of the month in which the financial statement is dated. This may not correspond to the figures in the annual report for the full year.

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This Simply Wall St article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts using only 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 into account your goals or your financial situation. We aim to provide you with long-term focused analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account recent price-sensitive company announcements or quality materials. Simply Wall St has no position in the listed stocks.