While institutions own 22% of Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BEI), public companies are its largest shareholders with 56% ownership

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by public companies in Beiersdorf indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. owns 56% of the company
• 22% of Beiersdorf is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:BEI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 56% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And institutions on the other hand have a 22% ownership in the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Beiersdorf

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Beiersdorf?

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.

Beiersdorf 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 Beiersdorf's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Beiersdorf is not owned by hedge funds. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. is currently the largest shareholder, with 56% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 3.2% and 2.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Beiersdorf

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 information suggests that Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own €121 worth of shares (at current prices). 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

With a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Beiersdorf. 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

It appears to us that public companies own 56% of Beiersdorf. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.