Key Insights

• Bhagwan Marine's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 55% ownership
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Bhagwan Marine Limited (ASX:BWN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 59% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Bhagwan Marine regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bhagwan Marine.

Check out our latest analysis for Bhagwan Marine

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bhagwan Marine?

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.

Less than 5% of Bhagwan Marine is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 5.1% of Bhagwan Marine. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. The company's CEO Loui Kannikoski is the largest shareholder with 37% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10.0% and 8.5% of the stock. Interestingly, the second and third-largest shareholders also happen to be the Other Key Executive and Chairman of the Board, respectively. This once again signifies considerable insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Bhagwan Marine

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.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Bhagwan Marine Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of AU$165m, that means they have AU$97m worth of shares. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. 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 29% stake in Bhagwan Marine. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.8%, of the company's shares. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Bhagwan Marine (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.