Heineken Holding N.V. (AMS:HEIO) stock most popular amongst private companies who own 54%, while individual investors hold 25%

Explore Heineken Holding's Fair Values from the Community and select yours

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Heineken Holding indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The largest shareholder of the company is L'Arche Green N.V. with a 54% stake
• Institutions own 20% of Heineken Holding

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Heineken Holding N.V. (AMS:HEIO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 54% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 25% ownership in the company.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Heineken Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Heineken Holding?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Heineken Holding 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. 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 Heineken Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Heineken Holding is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that L'Arche Green N.V. is the largest shareholder with 54% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. With 3.0% and 2.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC and Norges Bank Investment Management are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Heineken Holding

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 suggests that insiders own under 1% of Heineken Holding N.V. in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own €11m worth of shares. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Heineken Holding. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 54%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Heineken Holding better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Heineken Holding that you should be aware of.

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.