While institutions invested in United Overseas Bank Limited (SGX:U11) benefited from last week's 6.8% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most

To get a sense of who is truly in control of United Overseas Bank Limited (SGX:U11), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 38% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 6.8% increase in the stock price last week, individual investors profited the most, but institutions who own 22% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of United Overseas Bank.

Our analysis indicates that U11 is potentially undervalued!

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About United Overseas Bank?

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.

United Overseas Bank 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. 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 United Overseas Bank's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

United Overseas Bank is not owned by hedge funds. Cho-Yaw Wee is currently the largest shareholder, with 11% of shares outstanding. With 8.0% and 5.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Wee Investments Pte Ltd and Wah Hin & Co Pte Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Ee Cheong Wee, the CEO has 2.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 United Overseas Bank

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.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in United Overseas Bank Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$46b, and insiders have S$7.4b worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 38% stake in United Overseas Bank. 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 20%, of the United Overseas Bank 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 4.0% of United Overseas Bank. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with United Overseas Bank , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.