Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:DBK) most popular amongst individual investors who own 58% of the shares, institutions hold 33%

Key Insights

• Significant control over Deutsche Bank by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 36% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Deutsche Bank is 33%

A look at the shareholders of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:DBK) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 58% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, institutions make up 33% of the company’s shareholders. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Deutsche Bank

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Deutsche Bank?

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.

We can see that Deutsche Bank 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. 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 Deutsche Bank'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 Deutsche Bank. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Hamad Bin Jabor Bin Al-Thani with 4.6% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.8% by the third-largest shareholder.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Deutsche Bank

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own €2.0b worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 58% of Deutsche Bank. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Deutsche Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Deutsche Bank is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.