Waterco Limited (ASX:WAT) insiders have significant skin in the game with 65% ownership

Key Insights

• Waterco's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion

• The largest shareholder of the company is Soon Goh with a 54% stake

• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

A look at the shareholders of Waterco Limited (ASX:WAT) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 65% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

So, insiders of Waterco have a lot at stake and every decision they make on the company’s future is important to them from a financial point of view.

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

View our latest analysis for Waterco

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Waterco?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Waterco, for yourself, below.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Waterco. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Soon Goh with 54% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have significant control over the outcome or future of the company, which is why insider ownership is usually looked upon favourably by prospective buyers. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.4% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Waterco

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Waterco Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. That means they own AU$98m worth of shares in the AU$150m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Waterco. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 18%, 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:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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