While individual investors own 23% of Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED), state or government are its largest shareholders with 50% ownership

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by state or government in Ørsted indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Denmark owns 50% of the company
• Institutions own 22% of Ørsted

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 50% to be precise, is state or government. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 23% of the company’s shareholders.

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

View our latest analysis for Ørsted

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ørsted?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Ørsted. 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. 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 Ørsted's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Ørsted is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Denmark with 50% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. SEAS-NVE A.m.b.A. is the second largest shareholder owning 5.0% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 2.2% of the company stock.

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 Ørsted

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Ørsted A/S. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own kr.84m of stock. 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

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 23% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.0%, of the company's shares. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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. Take risks for example - Ørsted has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.