Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A.'s (ATH:MOH) top owners are private companies with 42% stake, while 41% is held by individual investors

Key Insights

• Significant control over Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• 16% of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries is held by Institutions

Every investor in Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A. (ATH:MOH) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 42% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 41% ownership in the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries.

See our latest analysis for Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries?

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.

We can see that Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries is not owned by hedge funds. Petroventure Holdings Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 41% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 2.1% and 1.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 50% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries S.A. in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around €11m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 41% 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

We can see that Private Companies own 42%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries (of which 2 don't sit too well with us!) you should know about.

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.