04-04-2025
Santam Ltd (JSE:SNT) is largely controlled by institutional shareholders who own 82% of the company
Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Santam's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
Sanlam Investment Management (Pty) Ltd. owns 66% of the company
Insiders have been selling lately
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A look at the shareholders of Santam Ltd (JSE:SNT) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 82% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Santam.
View our latest analysis for Santam
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.
Santam 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. 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 Santam's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Santam is not owned by hedge funds. Sanlam Investment Management (Pty) Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 66% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. With 5.2% and 4.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Public Investment Corporation Limited and Ninety One UK Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
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.
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.
Our information suggests that Santam Ltd insiders own under 1% of the company. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own R50m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
With a 18% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Santam. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Santam you should know about.
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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