Yahoo Finance Individual investors account for 47% of Baron Oil Plc's (LON:BOIL) ownership, while institutions account for 43%
To get a sense of who is truly in control of Baron Oil Plc (LON:BOIL), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 47% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Institutions, on the other hand, account for 43% of the company's stockholders. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Baron Oil, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for Baron Oil
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Baron Oil?
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.
Baron Oil already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Baron Oil's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Baron Oil. HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 9.7% of shares outstanding. Jarvis Securities plc, Asset Management Arm is the second largest shareholder owning 8.4% of common stock, and Barclays Bank PLC, Wealth and Investment Management Division holds about 5.6% of the company stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Andrew Yeo directly holds 1.3% of the total shares outstanding.
After doing some more digging, we found that the top 24 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. 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 Baron Oil
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. 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.
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 report that insiders do own shares in Baron Oil Plc. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth UK£128m. Most would see this as a real positive. Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Baron Oil. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Baron Oil (including 3 which are potentially serious) .
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.
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