Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    7,817.40
    -81.50 (-1.03%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,567.30
    -74.80 (-0.98%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6433
    +0.0007 (+0.11%)
     
  • OIL

    83.08
    +0.35 (+0.42%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,405.70
    +7.70 (+0.32%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    99,898.11
    +677.64 (+0.68%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,374.83
    +62.20 (+4.98%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6023
    -0.0008 (-0.13%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0891
    +0.0016 (+0.14%)
     
  • NZX 50

    11,796.21
    -39.83 (-0.34%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    17,239.12
    -155.19 (-0.89%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,871.95
    -5.10 (-0.06%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    37,956.29
    +180.91 (+0.48%)
     
  • DAX

    17,743.81
    -93.59 (-0.52%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,224.14
    -161.73 (-0.99%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    37,068.35
    -1,011.35 (-2.66%)
     

Who Owns Most Of Zenith Energy Limited (ASX:ZEN)?

The big shareholder groups in Zenith Energy Limited (ASX:ZEN) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Warren Buffett said that he likes ‘a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people’. So it’s nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Zenith Energy is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of AU$81m, which means it wouldn’t have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about ZEN.

Check out our latest analysis for Zenith Energy

ASX:ZEN Ownership Summary October 8th 18
ASX:ZEN Ownership Summary October 8th 18

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zenith 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

We can see that Zenith Energy does have institutional investors; and they hold 23% of the stock. 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 Zenith Energy’s historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there’s always more to the story.

ASX:ZEN Income Statement Export October 8th 18
ASX:ZEN Income Statement Export October 8th 18

We note that hedge funds don’t have a meaningful investment in Zenith Energy. As far I can tell there isn’t analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Zenith Energy

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Zenith Energy Limited. Insiders own AU$27m worth of shares in the AU$81m company. I would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, with a 18% stake in the company, will not 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

We can see that Private Companies own 26%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it’s hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It’s always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Zenith Energy better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.