With 61% ownership, Deutsche Börse AG (ETR:DB1) boasts of strong institutional backing

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editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Mon, Dec 23, 2024, 11:38 PM 4 min read

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Deutsche Börse AG (ETR:DB1), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 61% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

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.

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

See our latest analysis for Deutsche Börse

ownership-breakdown — XTRA:DB1 Ownership Breakdown December 24th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Deutsche Börse?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Deutsche Börse. 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 Deutsche Börse's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — XTRA:DB1 Earnings and Revenue Growth December 24th 2024

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Deutsche Börse is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 6.9% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.2% and 4.2% of the stock.

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.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Deutsche Börse

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.

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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

With a 39% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Deutsche Börse. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Deutsche Börse better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Deutsche Börse .

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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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.