While institutions invested in Bouvet ASA (OB:BOUV) benefited from last week's 8.7% gain, retail investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• Bouvet's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 15 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders have sold recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Bouvet ASA (OB:BOUV), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 40% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s kr565m market cap gain, institutions too had a 39% share in those profits.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Bouvet

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bouvet?

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 Bouvet. 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. 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 Bouvet's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Bouvet is not owned by hedge funds. Folketrygdfondet is currently the company's largest shareholder with 7.9% of shares outstanding. With 6.9% and 5.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, ODIN Forvaltning AS and Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC are the second and third largest shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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

Insider Ownership Of Bouvet

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

We can see that insiders own shares in Bouvet ASA. As individuals, the insiders collectively own kr582m worth of the kr7.0b company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 40% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bouvet. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 13%, of the Bouvet 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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.