Yahoo Finance Great week for Zalando SE (ETR:ZAL) institutional investors after losing 27% over the previous year
Key Insights
Institutions' substantial holdings in Zalando implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
52% of the business is held by the top 12 shareholders
If you want to know who really controls Zalando SE (ETR:ZAL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% 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.
Institutional investors would appreciate the 11% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 27%.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Zalando.
See our latest analysis for Zalando
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zalando?
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.
We can see that Zalando 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. 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 Zalando's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Zalando is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Anders Povlsen is the largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. Baillie Gifford & Co. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.7% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 5.1% of the company stock.
A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 52% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.
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 Zalando
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 Zalando SE. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful €656m stake in this €6.4b business. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 35% 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.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Zalando better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Zalando has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.
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.
