Höegh Autoliners ASA's (OB:HAUTO) stock price dropped 8.2% last week; private companies would not be happy

Key Insights

• Significant control over Höegh Autoliners by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• Institutions own 24% of Höegh Autoliners

Every investor in Höegh Autoliners ASA (OB:HAUTO) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 38% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 8.2% decline in share price, private companies suffered the most losses.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Höegh Autoliners

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Höegh Autoliners?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

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

Höegh Autoliners is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Leif HÖEgh & Co As is the largest shareholder with 36% of shares outstanding. Emanuele Grimaldi is the second largest shareholder owning 5.1% of common stock, and Folketrygdfondet holds about 5.0% of the company stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Andreas Enger directly holds 0.7% of the total shares outstanding.

We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Höegh Autoliners

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 Höegh Autoliners ASA. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own kr1.3b 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 32% stake in Höegh Autoliners. 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 38%, of the shares on issue. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Höegh Autoliners better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Höegh Autoliners (2 are a bit concerning) that you should be aware of.

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.