Flughafen Zürich AG's (VTX:FHZN) largest shareholders are retail investors with 35% ownership, state or government own 33%

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

Sat, May 4, 2024, 12:48 AM 4 min read

Key Insights

The considerable ownership by retail investors in Flughafen Zürich indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
50% of the business is held by the top 7 shareholders
Institutional ownership in Flughafen Zürich is 32%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Flughafen Zürich AG (VTX:FHZN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 35% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, state or government make up 33% of the company’s shareholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Flughafen Zürich.

Check out our latest analysis for Flughafen Zürich

ownership-breakdown — SWX:FHZN Ownership Breakdown May 4th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Flughafen Zürich?

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.

We can see that Flughafen Zürich does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Flughafen Zürich's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — SWX:FHZN Earnings and Revenue Growth May 4th 2024

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Flughafen Zürich. Canton of Zurich is currently the company's largest shareholder with 33% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.2% by the third-largest shareholder.

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 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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Flughafen Zürich

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 Flughafen Zürich AG insiders own under 1% of the company. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own CHF11m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 35% stake in Flughafen Zürich. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

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 Flughafen Zürich you should know about.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.