Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Seatrium indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 47% ownership

• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

Every investor in Seatrium Limited (SGX:5E2) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 53% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, individual investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 5.6%.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Seatrium?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Seatrium. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Seatrium's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Seatrium is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited with 36% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 2.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Seatrium

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.

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 Seatrium Limited in their own names. 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 S$2.2m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 53% of Seatrium. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 36% stake in Seatrium. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.