Key Insights

• Costamare's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 3 shareholders own 59% of the company
• 22% of Costamare is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 59% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit US$1.5b market cap following a 5.0% gain in the stock.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Costamare?

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 Costamare 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. 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 Costamare's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Costamare is not owned by hedge funds. The company's CEO Konstantinos Konstantakopoulos is the largest shareholder with 26% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 17% and 16% of the stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Costamare

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.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Costamare Inc.. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of US$1.5b, that means insiders have a whopping US$876m worth of shares in their own names. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been selling any of their shares.

General Public Ownership

With a 16% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Costamare. 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 Costamare better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Costamare (1 is potentially serious) that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.