HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft's (ETR:HOT) top owners are public companies with 76% stake, while 18% is held by individual investors

Key Insights

• HOCHTIEF's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. owns 76% of the company
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:HOT), 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 public companies with 76% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 18% ownership in the company.

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

See our latest analysis for HOCHTIEF

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About HOCHTIEF?

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.

HOCHTIEF already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 HOCHTIEF's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in HOCHTIEF. ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 76% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 1.1% and 0.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Norges Bank Investment Management are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 HOCHTIEF

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. 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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

With a 18% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over HOCHTIEF. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 76% of HOCHTIEF stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand HOCHTIEF better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for HOCHTIEF that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.