Key Insights

• Beach Energy's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

• The top 23 shareholders own 50% of the company

• Institutional ownership in Beach Energy is 21%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Beach Energy Limited (ASX:BPT), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 47% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, public companies make up 30% of the company’s shareholders.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Beach Energy

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Beach Energy?

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 Beach Energy. 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. 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 Beach Energy'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 Beach Energy. Seven Group Holdings Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 29% of shares outstanding. With 3.4% and 2.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Macquarie Group, Ltd., Banking & Securities Investments are the second and third largest shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 23 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Beach Energy

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Beach Energy Limited. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around AU$44m worth of shares (at current prices). 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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 47% stake in Beach Energy. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 30% of Beach Energy stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.