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Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in E.ON indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

• The top 25 shareholders own 46% of the company

• 37% of E.ON is held by Institutions

Every investor in E.ON SE (ETR:EOAN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 47% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Institutions, on the other hand, account for 37% of the company's stockholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about E.ON.

Check out our latest analysis for E.ON

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About E.ON?

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 E.ON. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 E.ON's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

E.ON is not owned by hedge funds. RWE Aktiengesellschaft is currently the company's largest shareholder with 15% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.2% and 3.4% of the stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 E.ON

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.