Key Insights

• Significant control over Hannover Rück by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions

• 50% of the company is held by a single shareholder (HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie V.a.G.)

• 22% of Hannover Rück is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Hannover Rück SE (ETR:HNR1), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 50% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 28% of the company’s shareholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Hannover Rück.

See our latest analysis for Hannover Rück

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hannover Rück?

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 Hannover Rück. 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 Hannover Rück, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Hannover Rück. The company's largest shareholder is HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie V.a.G., with ownership of 50%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. The second and third largest shareholders are FMR LLC and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 3.0%.

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 Hannover Rück

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.