WEBULL

Retail investors who hold 41% of Wizz Air Holdings Plc (LON:WIZZ) gained 3.2%, institutions profited as well

Simply Wall St · 6d ago

Key Insights

  • Significant control over Wizz Air Holdings by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
  • 52% of the business is held by the top 7 shareholders
  • Institutional ownership in Wizz Air Holdings is 33%

We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free.

Every investor in Wizz Air Holdings Plc (LON:WIZZ) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 41% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched UK£1.4b last week, while institutions who own 33% also benefitted.

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

See our latest analysis for Wizz Air Holdings

ownership-breakdown
LSE:WIZZ Ownership Breakdown January 6th 2026

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wizz Air Holdings?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Wizz Air Holdings does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Wizz Air Holdings' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
LSE:WIZZ Earnings and Revenue Growth January 6th 2026

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Wizz Air Holdings. Our data shows that Indigo Partners LLC is the largest shareholder with 24% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.4% and 5.1% of the stock. Furthermore, CEO József Váradi is the owner of 1.5% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 7 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 Wizz Air Holdings

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Wizz Air Holdings Plc. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around UK£31m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Wizz Air Holdings. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 24%, private equity firms could influence the Wizz Air Holdings board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Wizz Air Holdings 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.

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.