Recent uptick might appease HydrogenOne Capital Growth plc (LON:HGEN) institutional owners after losing 29% over the past year

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies HydrogenOne Capital Growth's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 8 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in HydrogenOne Capital Growth plc (LON:HGEN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 55% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 15% increase in share prices last week, given their one-year returns have been disappointing at 29%.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of HydrogenOne Capital Growth.

View our latest analysis for HydrogenOne Capital Growth

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About HydrogenOne Capital Growth?

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.

HydrogenOne Capital Growth already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of HydrogenOne Capital Growth, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. HydrogenOne Capital Growth is not owned by hedge funds. INEOS Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 19% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.4% and 5.4% of the stock.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of HydrogenOne Capital Growth

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 information suggests that HydrogenOne Capital Growth plc insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It has a market capitalization of just UK£87m, and the board has only UK£177k worth of shares in their own names. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 25% stake in HydrogenOne Capital Growth. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 20%, of the company's shares. 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. Take risks for example - HydrogenOne Capital Growth has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.