Key Insights
- Centurion's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
- 51% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Centurion Global Limited)
- Insiders have been buying lately
A look at the shareholders of Centurion Corporation Limited (SGX:OU8) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 51% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
As a result, private companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week's 6.8% gain.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Centurion.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Centurion?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
Institutions have a very small stake in Centurion. That indicates that the company is on the radar of some funds, but it isn't particularly popular with professional investors at the moment. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. We sometimes see a rising share price when a few big institutions want to buy a certain stock at the same time. The history of earnings and revenue, which you can see below, could be helpful in considering if more institutional investors will want the stock. Of course, there are plenty of other factors to consider, too.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Centurion. Centurion Global Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 51% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 9.2% and 7.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Kim Kang Loh and Peng Kwang Teo are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the bottom two of the top three shareholders also hold the title of Top Key Executive and Member of the Board of Directors, respectively, suggesting that these insiders have a personal stake in 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Centurion
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 a reasonable proportion of Centurion Corporation Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$1.1b, and insiders have S$243m worth of shares in their own names. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 25% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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
It seems that Private Companies own 51%, of the Centurion stock. 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. Be aware that Centurion is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...
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.
