COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd.'s (HKG:1919) biggest owners are private companies who got richer after stock soared 7.0% last week

To get a sense of who is truly in control of COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. (HKG:1919), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 51% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, private companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 7.0% gain.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of COSCO SHIPPING Holdings, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for COSCO SHIPPING Holdings

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

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in COSCO SHIPPING Holdings. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in COSCO SHIPPING Holdings. The company's largest shareholder is China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited, with ownership of 42%. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group) Corp is the second largest shareholder owning 5.0% of common stock, and China Securities Finance Corp, Asset Management Arm holds about 2.3% of the company stock.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 51% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of COSCO SHIPPING Holdings

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. in their own names. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own HK$708m worth of shares (at current prices). 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 38% stake in COSCO SHIPPING Holdings. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 51%, of the COSCO SHIPPING Holdings stock. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand COSCO SHIPPING Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for COSCO SHIPPING Holdings (1 is a bit concerning) that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.