Private companies are the largest owners of Seplat Energy Plc (LON:SEPL) and have been rewarded after the market cap rose by £47m last week

To get a sense of who really controls Seplat Energy Plc (LON:SEPL), it’s important to understand the company’s ownership structure. We can see that private companies own the lion’s share of the company at 47%. In other words, the group is exposed to maximum upside (or downside risk).

As a result, private companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 6.8% gain.

In the graphic below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Seplat Energy.

However, if you prefer to see where the Opportunities and risks lie in the SEPL industryyou can view our analysis of the UK oil and gas industry.

What Does Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Seplat Energy?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they’re often more excited about a stock once it’s included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially as they grow.

As you can see, institutional investors have a significant stake in Seplat Energy. This means that the analysts who work for these institutes have looked at the stock and like it. But just like everyone else, they can be wrong. If several institutes change their opinion on a stock at the same time, the share price could fall quickly. It is therefore worth checking out Seplat Energy’s earnings history below. Of course, what really matters is the future.

Apparently, hedge funds control 7.8% of Seplat Energy’s stock. This is interesting because hedge funds can be very active and active. Many are looking for medium-term catalysts that will boost stock prices. Looking at our data, we see that the largest shareholder is PT Pertamina (Persero) with 21% of outstanding shares. Meanwhile, the second- and third-largest shareholders hold 14% and 8.2% of the outstanding shares, respectively. In addition, the company’s CEO, Roger Brown, directly owns 0.6% of the total outstanding shares.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the four largest shareholders control more than half of the company, which means that this group has a significant influence on the company’s decision-making.

Studying institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock’s expected performance. The same can be done by studying analyst sentiment. There are a fair number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be helpful to get their overall view on the future.

Insider ownership of Seplat Energy

The definition of an insider may differ slightly from country to country, but board members always count. Management runs the business, but the CEO is accountable to the board even if he or she is a member.

In general, I think insider ownership is a good thing. In some cases, however, it becomes more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see insiders own shares of Seplat Energy Plc. It has a market capitalization of just £733m and insiders have £21m worth of shares in their own name. Some would say this shows the alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking to see if those insiders have sold.

General Public Property

The general public — including retail investors — own 31% of shares in the company, so it can’t be easily ignored. While this group may not necessarily be in charge, it certainly can have a real impact on how the company is run.

Private company property

It appears that private companies own 47% of Seplat Energy’s shares. It might be worth looking into in more detail. If related parties, such as insiders, have interests in any of these private companies, this should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies can also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to see who exactly owns a company. But to really gain insight, we need to consider other information as well. For example, take risks – that’s what Seplat Energy has done 2 warning signs (and 1 thing that makes us a little awkward) that we think you should know about.

Eventually the future is the most important thing. You can access it free Report on analysts’ forecasts for the company.

Note: The figures in this article are calculated using data for the last twelve months, relating to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month to which the financial statements are dated. This may not tally with the annual report figures for the full year.

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This Simply Wall St article is of a general nature. We provide comments based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended as financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take into account your goals or financial situation. Our goal is to offer you long-term focused analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.