In This Article:
Key Insights
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Significant control over Fresenius SE KGaA by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
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49% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
A look at the shareholders of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (ETR:FRE) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 43% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Meanwhile, institutions make up 30% of the company’s shareholders. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Fresenius SE KGaA.
View our latest analysis for Fresenius SE KGaA
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fresenius SE KGaA?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Fresenius SE KGaA. 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. 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 Fresenius SE KGaA's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Fresenius SE KGaA. The company's largest shareholder is Else Kroner-Fresenius Foundation, Endowment Arm, with ownership of 27%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.9% by the third-largest shareholder.
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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.