With 53% ownership of the shares, Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (AMS:AD) is heavily dominated by institutional owners
Key Insights
Institutions' substantial holdings in Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 37% ownership
Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock
If you want to know who really controls Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (AMS:AD), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 53% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize.
Check out our latest analysis for Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize. 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 Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 5.6% of shares outstanding. With 3.8% and 3.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.
A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.
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.
Insider Ownership Of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.
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 information suggests that Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own €25m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize. 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.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.
