Key Insights

• Riverstone Holdings' significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The largest shareholder of the company is Teek Son Wong with a 51% stake
• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Riverstone Holdings Limited (SGX:AP4), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 65% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And following last week's 7.0% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Riverstone Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Riverstone 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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Riverstone Holdings. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Riverstone Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Riverstone Holdings. With a 51% stake, CEO Teek Son Wong is the largest shareholder. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider with such skin in the game. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.4% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Wai Keong Lee is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Riverstone Holdings

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Riverstone Holdings Limited. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. So they have a S$635m stake in this S$978m business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 25% stake in Riverstone Holdings. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Riverstone Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Riverstone Holdings that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.

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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.