FDJ United's (EPA:FDJU) largest shareholders are individual investors with 40% ownership, state or government own 21%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in FDJ United indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 6 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Institutions own 15% of FDJ United

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of FDJ United (EPA:FDJU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 40% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

State or government, on the other hand, account for 21% of the company's stockholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of FDJ United, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for FDJ United

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About FDJ United?

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.

FDJ United already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 FDJ United, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in FDJ United. Our data shows that The French Republic is the largest shareholder with 21% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 16% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of FDJ United

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 FDJ United insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own €313k worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 40% stake in FDJ United. 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 20%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand FDJ United better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for FDJ United you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.