Following a 21% decline over last year, recent gains may please Dürr Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:DUE) institutional owners

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Dürr's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 10 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Dürr Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:DUE), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 46% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

After a year of 21% losses, last week’s 6.7% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

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

See our latest analysis for Dürr

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dürr?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Dürr. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Dürr, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Dürr. The company's largest shareholder is Heinz Dürr GmbH, with ownership of 26%. Heinz und Heide Dürr-Stiftung GmbH, Endowment Arm is the second largest shareholder owning 3.5% of common stock, and Candriam holds about 3.1% of the company stock.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 10 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 Dürr

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Dürr Aktiengesellschaft in their own names. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own €947k worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 28% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 26%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Dürr better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Dürr you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.