Should You Be Concerned About HSS Hire Group plc’s (LON:HSS) Investors?
In this article, I’m going to take a look at HSS Hire Group plc’s (LSE:HSS) latest ownership structure, a non-fundamental factor which is important, but remains a less discussed subject among investors. Ownership structure has been found to have an impact on shareholder returns in both short- and long-term. Since the effect of an active institutional investor with a similar ownership as a passive pension-fund can be vastly different on a company’s corporate governance and accountability of shareholders, investors should take a closer look at HSS’s shareholder registry. All data provided is as of the most recent financial year end.
View our latest analysis for HSS Hire Group
Institutional Ownership
With an institutional ownership of 20.79%, HSS can face volatile stock price movements if institutions execute block trades on the open market, more so, when there are relatively small amounts of shares available on the market to trade These moves, at least in the short-term, are generally observed in an institutional ownership mix comprising of active stock pickers, in particular levered hedge funds, which can cause large price swings. Hedge funds, considered active investors, hold a 26.23% stake in the company, which may be the cause of high short-term volatility in the stock price. I am going to further examine HSS’s ownership structure to check how other major shareholders can affect its investment case.
Insider Ownership
I find insiders are another important group of stakeholders, who are directly involved in making key decisions related to the use of capital. In essence, insider ownership is more about the alignment of shareholders’ interests with the management. With a stake of 3.10%, insiders seem to have some alignment of interest with shareholders. A higher level of insider ownership has been found to reflect the choosing of projects with higher return on investments compared to lower returning projects for the sake of expansion. In addition to this, it may be interesting to look at insider buying and selling activities. Keep in mind that buying may be sign of upbeat future expectations, but selling doesn’t necessarily mean the opposite as the insiders might just be doing it out of their personal financial needs.
Private Equity Ownership
With an ownership of 50.34%, private equity firms are a major stakeholder in HSS and are in a position to play an important role in shaping up corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. An investor should be encouraged by the ownership of these institutions who are known to be experts in increasing efficiency, improving capital structure and opting for value-accretive policy decisions.
Private Company Ownership
Another group of owners that a potential investor in HSS should consider are private companies, with a stake of 0.05%. While they invest more often due to strategic interests, an investment can also be driven by capital gains through share price appreciation. However, an ownership of this size may be relatively insignificant, meaning that these shareholders may not have the potential to influence HSS’s business strategy. Thus, investors not need worry too much about the consequences of these holdings.
What this means for you:
With significant institutional ownership, including active hedge, existing investors should seek a margin of safety when investing in HSS. This may enable shareholders to comfortably invest in the company and avoid getting trapped in a sustained sell-off that is often observed in stocks with this level of institutional participation. However, ownership structure should not be the only determining factor when you’re building an investment thesis for HSS. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as HSS Hire Group’s past track record and financial health. 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.
