Significant control over Fresenius SE KGaA by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
A total of 16 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
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 37% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched €24b last week, while institutions who own 36% also benefitted.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Fresenius SE KGaA, beginning with the chart below.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fresenius SE KGaA?
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 Fresenius SE KGaA. 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 Fresenius SE KGaA's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
XTRA:FRE Earnings and Revenue Growth May 1st 2025
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Fresenius SE KGaA. Else Kroner-Fresenius Foundation, Endowment Arm is currently the largest shareholder, with 27% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 4.9% and 3.1%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.
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 Fresenius SE KGaA
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.
General Public Ownership
With a 37% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Fresenius SE KGaA. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Fresenius SE KGaA that you should be aware of before investing here.
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.
