Cool Company Ltd.'s (OB:CLCO) last week's 8.2% decline must have disappointed private companies who have a significant stake

Key Insights

• Significant control over Cool by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is Quantum Pacific Shipping Ltd with a 58% stake
• Insiders have bought recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Cool Company Ltd. (OB:CLCO), 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 58% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And last week, private companies endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 8.2%.

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

View our latest analysis for Cool

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Cool?

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 Cool. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Cool's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Cool. Quantum Pacific Shipping Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 58% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. With 3.8% and 1.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, FMR LLC and Donald Smith & Co., Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 Cool

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Cool Company Ltd.. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It has a market capitalization of just kr6.7b, and the board has only kr13m worth of shares in their own names. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 27% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 58%, of the Cool stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Cool (3 are concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.