What You Need To Know About COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited's (HKG:1199) Investor Composition

The big shareholder groups in COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (HKG:1199) have power over the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of HK$14b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutional investors have bought into the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about COSCO SHIPPING Ports.

View our latest analysis for COSCO SHIPPING Ports

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About COSCO SHIPPING Ports?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in COSCO SHIPPING Ports. 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. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in COSCO SHIPPING Ports. COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 48% of shares outstanding. Silchester International Investors LLP is the second largest shareholder owning 12% of common stock, and Hermes Investment Management Limited holds about 4.9% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of COSCO SHIPPING Ports

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited insiders own under 1% of the company. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own HK$6.8m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. 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 holds a 21% stake in COSCO SHIPPING Ports. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 48% of COSCO SHIPPING Ports. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

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. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with COSCO SHIPPING Ports (including 1 which is can't be ignored) .

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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