Individual investors own 19% of Vår Energi AS (OB:VAR) shares but public companies control 55% of the company

Key Insights

• Significant control over Vår Energi by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is Eni S.p.A. with a 63% stake
• Institutions own 12% of Vår Energi

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Every investor in Vår Energi AS (OB:VAR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 55% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 19% of the company's stockholders.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Vår Energi

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vår Energi?

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.

Vår Energi already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Vår Energi's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Vår Energi. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Eni S.p.A. with 63% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. The second and third largest shareholders are Folketrygdfondet and The Vanguard Group, Inc., with an equal amount of shares to their name at 1.3%.

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 Vår Energi

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Vår Energi AS. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own kr1.2b worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 19% stake in Vår Energi. 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 13%, of the Vår Energi 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 55% of Vår Energi stock. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Vår Energi (1 is potentially serious) that you should be aware of.

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.