Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Deutsche B?rse implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price

• 39% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders

• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

A look at the shareholders of Deutsche B?rse AG (ETR:DB1) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 52% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Deutsche B?rse.

Check out our latest analysis for Deutsche B?rse

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Deutsche B?rse?

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.

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

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Deutsche B?rse. Massachusetts Financial Services Company is currently the company's largest shareholder with 5.2% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Flossbach & Von Storch Vermoegensmanagement AG, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 4.1%.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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