Great week for Delivery Hero SE (ETR:DHER) institutional investors after losing 31% over the previous year

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Delivery Hero's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 12 shareholders
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Delivery Hero SE (ETR:DHER), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 45% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Last week's €482m market cap gain would probably be appreciated by institutional investors, especially after a year of 31% losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Delivery Hero.

Check out our latest analysis for Delivery Hero

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Delivery Hero?

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.

We can see that Delivery Hero does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Delivery Hero's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

It looks like hedge funds own 11% of Delivery Hero shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Our data shows that Baillie Gifford & Co. is the largest shareholder with 7.8% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.6% and 5.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 Delivery Hero

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 can report that insiders do own shares in Delivery Hero SE. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth €209m. Most would see this as a real positive. If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 41% stake in Delivery Hero. 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 Delivery Hero (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.