In This Article:
Key Insights
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Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Krones' growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
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The top 2 shareholders own 52% of the company
If you want to know who really controls Krones AG (ETR:KRN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 37% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by €221m.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Krones.
See our latest analysis for Krones
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Krones?
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.
We can see that Krones 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. 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 Krones' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Krones is not owned by hedge funds. Volker Kronseder is currently the company's largest shareholder with 37% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 3.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, VMAX Familienstiftung and Tweedy, Browne Company LLC are the second and third largest shareholders.
A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 52% stake.
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.
Insider Ownership Of Krones
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.