Private companies are Euroseas Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:ESEA) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by US$30m last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Euroseas indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESEA), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 57% to be precise, is private companies. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, private companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by US$30m last week.

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

View our latest analysis for Euroseas

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Euroseas?

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.

Euroseas 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 Euroseas' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Euroseas is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Containers Shareholders Trinity Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 39% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.7% and 7.5% of the stock. In addition, we found that Aristides Pittas, the CEO has 1.1% of the shares allocated to their name.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 54% stake.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Euroseas

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see that insiders own shares in Euroseas Ltd.. In their own names, insiders own US$6.7m worth of stock in the US$282m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 31% stake in Euroseas. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 57%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Euroseas you should be aware of, and 2 of them are significant.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.