Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after Nexus AG's (ETR:NXU) market cap dropped by €54m

Key Insights

• Nexus' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 23 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutions own 41% of Nexus

Every investor in Nexus AG (ETR:NXU) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 43% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 6.1% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 41% stock also took a hit.

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

View our latest analysis for Nexus

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nexus?

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 Nexus. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Nexus, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Nexus is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Luxempart S.A., with ownership of 10%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.7% and 7.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 23 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Nexus

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.

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 cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Given we are not picking up on insider ownership, we may have missing data. Therefore, it would be interesting to assess the CEO compensation and tenure, here.

General Public Ownership

With a 43% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Nexus. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 10% stake in Nexus. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 6.0%, 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:

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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.