State or government own 33% of Flughafen Zürich AG (VTX:FHZN) shares but individual investors control 34% of the company

Key Insights

• Flughafen Zürich's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 52% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• 33% of Flughafen Zürich is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Flughafen Zürich AG (VTX:FHZN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 34% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, state or government make up 33% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Flughafen Zürich, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Flughafen Zürich

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Flughafen Zürich?

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 Flughafen Zürich. 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 Flughafen Zürich's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Flughafen Zürich. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Canton of Zurich with 33% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.0% and 4.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We also observed that the top 6 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.

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.

Insider Ownership Of Flughafen Zürich

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that Flughafen Zürich AG insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own CHF9.3m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 34% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Flughafen Zürich. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Flughafen Zürich better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Flughafen Zürich that you should be aware of before investing here.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.