United Plantations Berhad's (KLSE:UTDPLT) biggest owners are private companies who got richer after stock soared 10% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over United Plantations Berhad by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 2 shareholders own 54% of the company
• 15% of United Plantations Berhad is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of United Plantations Berhad (KLSE:UTDPLT), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 54% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Clearly, private companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by RM1.2b last week.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of United Plantations Berhad, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for United Plantations Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About United Plantations Berhad?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in United Plantations Berhad. 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 United Plantations Berhad, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in United Plantations Berhad. Our data shows that Brothers (Holdings) Pte. Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 48% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.7% and 5.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO Carl Bek-Nielsen directly holds 1.3% of the total shares outstanding.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 54% stake.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of United Plantations Berhad

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in United Plantations Berhad. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own RM469m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 26% stake in United Plantations Berhad. 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 54%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand United Plantations Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that United Plantations Berhad is showing 1 warning sign 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.