Key Insights

• Significant control over COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 4 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutions own 22% of COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation

To get a sense of who is truly in control of COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation Co., Ltd. (HKG:1138), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 45% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 33% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation?

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.

COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited with 45% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 1.9% and 1.8% of the stock.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 50% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 less than 1% of COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation Co., Ltd.. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own HK$4.7m of stock. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 33% stake in COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 45%, of the COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation that 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.