Yahoo Finance Golden Ocean Group Limited's (NASDAQ:GOGL) largest shareholders are private companies who were rewarded as market cap surged US$156m last week
Key Insights
Golden Ocean Group's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
The top 5 shareholders own 51% of the company
If you want to know who really controls Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ:GOGL), 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 39% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Clearly, private companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by US$156m last week.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Golden Ocean Group.
See our latest analysis for Golden Ocean Group
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Golden Ocean Group?
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.
We can see that Golden Ocean Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Golden Ocean Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Golden Ocean Group. The company's largest shareholder is Greenwich Holdings Ltd., with ownership of 39%. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 5.0% of common stock, and Folketrygdfondet holds about 4.7% of the company stock.
On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Golden Ocean Group
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Golden Ocean Group Limited in their own names. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around US$237k worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 34% 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
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 39%, of the company's shares. 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:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Golden Ocean Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Golden Ocean Group (including 2 which are a bit concerning) .
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.
