Painful week for individual investors invested in Ventura Offshore Holding Ltd. (OB:VTURA) after 17% drop, institutions also suffered losses

Key Insights

• Significant control over Ventura Offshore Holding by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 52% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• Insiders have bought recently

Every investor in Ventura Offshore Holding Ltd. (OB:VTURA) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 41% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions who own 22% came under pressure after market cap dropped to kr2.1b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Ventura Offshore Holding.

See our latest analysis for Ventura Offshore Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ventura Offshore Holding?

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 Ventura Offshore Holding. 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. 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 Ventura Offshore Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It would appear that 19% of Ventura Offshore Holding shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. The company's largest shareholder is Condire Investors, LLC, with ownership of 12%. The second and third largest shareholders are Kistefos A.S. and Apollo Asset Management Company, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 9.5%.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Ventura Offshore Holding

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 Ventura Offshore Holding Ltd.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own kr41m worth of the kr2.1b company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Ventura Offshore Holding. 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 Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 9.5%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 6.4%, 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:

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.