HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA's (ETR:HBH) 5.0% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 37% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in HORNBACH Holding KGaA indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 4 shareholders own 55% of the company
• Insiders own 14% of HORNBACH Holding KGaA

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If you want to know who really controls HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA (ETR:HBH), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 37% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While the holdings of private companies took a hit after last week’s 5.0% price drop, institutions with their 28% holdings also suffered.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of HORNBACH Holding KGaA.

See our latest analysis for HORNBACH Holding KGaA

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About HORNBACH Holding KGaA?

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.

HORNBACH Holding KGaA already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 HORNBACH Holding KGaA, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in HORNBACH Holding KGaA. The company's largest shareholder is Hornbach Familientreuhand GmbH, with ownership of 24%. With 13% and 11% of the shares outstanding respectively, Finda Oy and Gertraud Hornbach are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Albrecht Hornbach is the owner of 0.7% of the company's shares.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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 HORNBACH Holding KGaA

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of HORNBACH Holding AG & Co. KGaA. Insiders own €213m worth of shares in the €1.6b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 22% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 37%, of the HORNBACH Holding KGaA stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.