WEBULL

Hannover Rück SE's (ETR:HNR1) last week's 3.7% decline must have disappointed private companies who have a significant stake

Simply Wall St · 01/05 07:18

Key Insights

  • Hannover Rück's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
  • The largest shareholder of the company is HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie V.a.G. with a 50% stake
  • 22% of Hannover Rück is held by Institutions

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Every investor in Hannover Rück SE (ETR:HNR1) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 50% to be precise, is private companies. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And last week, private companies endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 3.7%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Hannover Rück.

See our latest analysis for Hannover Rück

ownership-breakdown
XTRA:HNR1 Ownership Breakdown January 5th 2026

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hannover Rück?

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 Hannover Rück 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. 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 Hannover Rück's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
XTRA:HNR1 Earnings and Revenue Growth January 5th 2026

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hannover Rück. Our data shows that HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie V.a.G. is the largest shareholder with 50% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 3.2% and 3.0% of the stock.

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 Hannover Rück

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.

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.

We note our data does not show any board members holding shares, personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 28% stake in Hannover Rück. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 50%, of the company's shares. 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 Hannover Rück better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.