Public companies invested in COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (HKG:1199) copped the brunt of last week's HK$551m market cap decline

Key Insights

• Significant control over COSCO SHIPPING Ports by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 69% of the company is held by a single shareholder (COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• 14% of COSCO SHIPPING Ports is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (HKG:1199) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 69% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to HK$15b last week, public companies would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about COSCO SHIPPING Ports.

View our latest analysis for COSCO SHIPPING Ports

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

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports 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. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in COSCO SHIPPING Ports. Our data shows that COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 69% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 4.8% and 1.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Silchester International Investors LLP and BlackRock, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports

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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited in their own names. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own HK$4.8m worth of shares. 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-- including retail investors -- own 17% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 69% of COSCO SHIPPING Ports. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 COSCO SHIPPING Ports is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.