A look at the shareholders of Sibanye Stillwater Limited (JSE:SSW) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 85% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And last week, institutional investors ended up benefitting the most after the company hit R192b in market cap. One-year return to shareholders is currently 281% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sibanye Stillwater.
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.
Sibanye Stillwater 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. 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 Sibanye Stillwater’s earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
JSE:SSW Earnings and Revenue Growth February 14th 2026
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don’t have many shares in Sibanye Stillwater. Public Investment Corporation Limited is currently the company’s largest shareholder with 20% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.9% and 7.3% of the stock.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company’s shares are owned by the top 7 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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.
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
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.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Sibanye Stillwater Limited. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own R443m of stock. Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 14% stake in Sibanye Stillwater. 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.
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example – Sibanye Stillwater has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.
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.
