Yahoo Finance Santos Limited's (ASX:STO) market cap touched AU$23b last week, benefiting both individual investors who own 56% as well as institutions
Key Insights
Santos' significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
39% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
Every investor in Santos Limited (ASX:STO) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 56% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
While individual investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s AU$1.1b market cap gain, institutions too had a 39% share in those profits.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Santos.
See our latest analysis for Santos
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Santos?
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 Santos. 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. 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 Santos' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Santos. United Faith Ventures Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 5.2% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are State Street Global Advisors, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc., with an equal amount of shares to their name at 5.1%.
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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Santos
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.
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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Santos Limited in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own AU$25m worth of shares. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 56% stake in Santos, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.
Private Company Ownership
It seems that Private Companies own 5.5%, of the Santos stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.
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 be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Santos .
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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.
