ASX:AQC Ownership_summary Jan 11th 18
Insider Ownership
Another important group of shareholders are company insiders. Insider ownership has to do more with how the company is managed and less to do with the direct impact of the magnitude of shares trading on the market. 21.27% ownership of AQC insiders is large enough to make an impact on shareholder returns. In general, this level of insider ownership has negatively affected underperforming (consistently low PE ratio) companies and positively affected the companies that outperform (consistently high PE ratio). It’s also interesting to learn what AQC insiders have been doing with their shareholdings lately. Insider buying may be a sign of upbeat future expectations, however, selling doesn’t necessarily mean the opposite as insiders may be motivated by their personal financial needs.
General Public Ownership
A substantial ownership of 11.79% in AQC is held by the general public. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power in deciding on major policy decisions such as executive compensation, appointment of directors and acquisitions of businesses. This level of ownership gives retail investors the power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and potential acquisitions. This is a positive sign for an investor who wants to be involved in key decision-making of the company.
Private Company Ownership
Another important group of owners for potential investors in AQC are private companies that hold a stake of 66.94% in AQC. These are companies that are mainly invested due to their strategic interests or are incentivized by reaping capital gains on investments their shareholdings. An ownership of this size indicates a strong financial backing and has the potential to influence AQC’s business strategy. Thus, investors should dig deeper into AQC’s business relations with these companies and how it can affect shareholder returns in the long-term.
What this means for you:
A relatively significant holding of company insiders could mean high alignment with shareholders. But at the same time, investors should be aware of the level of influence executives could have on governance decisions. However, ownership structure should not be the only focus of your research when constructing an investment thesis around AQC. Rather, you should be examining fundamental factors such as the intrinsic valuation, which is a key driver of Australian Pacific Coal’s share price. I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
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 pass 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.