In This Article:
Key Insights
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Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Bilfinger's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
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The top 7 shareholders own 52% of the company
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Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company
Every investor in Bilfinger SE (ETR:GBF) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 35% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
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 Bilfinger, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Bilfinger
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bilfinger?
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.
Bilfinger 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 Bilfinger's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
It looks like hedge funds own 33% of Bilfinger shares. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. The company's largest shareholder is Cevian Capital AB, with ownership of 21%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.0% by the third-largest shareholder.
We also observed that the top 7 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
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.