In this article, I will take a quick look at International Petroleum Corporation’s (TSE:IPCO) recent ownership structure – an unconventional investing subject, but an important one. When it comes to ownership structure of a company, the impact has been observed in both the long-and short-term performance of shares. Different types of investors can have varying degrees of influence on a company’s management team. For example, an active institutional investor may be more likely to hold a company accountable for certain actions whereas a passive fund will move in and out of stocks without regards to corporate governance. The implications of these institutions’ actions can either benefit or hinder individual investors, so it is important to understand the ownership composition of your stock investment. Now I will analyze IPCO’s shareholder registry in more detail.
Check out our latest analysis for International Petroleum
Institutional Ownership
IPCO’s 55.61% institutional ownership seems enough to cause large share price movements in the case of significant share sell-off or acquisitions by institutions, particularly when there is a low level of public shares available on the market to trade. These moves, at least in the short-term, are generally observed in an institutional ownership mix comprising of active stock pickers, in particular levered hedge funds, which can cause large price swings. In the case of IPCO, investors need not worry about such volatility considering active hedge funds don’t have a significant stake. However, we should dig deeper into IPCO’s ownership structure and find out how other key ownership classes can affect its investment profile.Insider Ownership
I find insiders are an important group of stakeholders, who are directly involved in making key decisions related to the use of capital. In essence, insider ownership is more about the alignment of shareholders’ interests with the management. IPCO insiders hold a not-so-significant 1.07% stake in the company, which somewhat aligns their interests with that of shareholders. However, a higher level of insider ownership has been linked to management executing on high-returning projects instead of expansion projects for the sake of apparent growth. It would also be interesting to check what insiders have been doing with their shareholding recently. Insider buying can be a positive indicator of future performance, but a selling decision can be simply driven by personal financial requirements.General Public Ownership
A substantial ownership of 10.26% in IPCO is held by the general public. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power in deciding on major policy decisions such as executive compensation, appointment of directors and acquisitions of businesses.Private Company Ownership
Another group of owners that a potential investor in IPCO should consider are private companies, with a stake of 33.05%. While they invest more often due to strategic interests, an investment can also be driven by capital gains through share price appreciation. An ownership of this size indicates a strong financial backing and has the potential to influence IPCO’s business strategy. Thus, investors should dig deeper into IPCO’s business relations with these companies and how it can affect shareholder returns in the long-term.Next Steps:
IPCO’s considerably high level of institutional ownership calls for further analysis into its margin of safety. This will enable shareholders to comfortably invest in the company while avoid getting trapped in a sustained sell-off that is often observed in stocks with this level of institutional participation. However, ownership structure should not be the only determining factor when you’re building an investment thesis for IPCO. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as International Petroleum’s past track record and financial health. I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
- Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for IPCO’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for IPCO’s outlook.
- Financial Health: Is IPCO’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
- Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.