Wisdom Marine Lines Co., Limited (Cayman) (TWSE:2637) surges 5.0%; individual investors who own 33% shares profited along with insiders

Key Insights

• Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman)'s significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 52% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• Insiders own 28% of Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman)

If you want to know who really controls Wisdom Marine Lines Co., Limited (Cayman) (TWSE:2637), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 33% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched NT$56b last week, while insiders who own 28% also benefitted.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman).

See our latest analysis for Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman)?

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 Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman). 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. 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 Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman), (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman) is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Chun-Sheng Lan with 28% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.0% and 5.5% of the stock.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman)

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Wisdom Marine Lines Co., Limited (Cayman). It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful NT$16b stake in this NT$56b business. 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-- including retail investors -- own 33% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 26%, 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Wisdom Marine Lines Limited (Cayman) (at least 1 which can't be ignored) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.