Who Really Owns Intra Energy Corporation Limited (ASX:IEC)?

In this article:

In this analysis, my focus will be on developing a perspective on Intra Energy Corporation Limited’s (ASX:IEC) latest ownership structure, a less discussed, but important factor. Ownership structure of a company has been found to affect share performance over time. Since the same amount of capital coming from an activist institution and a passive mutual fund has different implications on corporate governance, it is a useful exercise to deconstruct IEC’s shareholder registry.

See our latest analysis for Intra Energy

ASX:IEC Ownership_summary May 16th 18
ASX:IEC Ownership_summary May 16th 18

Institutional Ownership

Institutional investors transact in large blocks which can influence the momentum of stock prices, at least in the short-term, especially when there is a low level of public shares available on the market to trade. With an institutional ownership of 6.29%, IEC doesn’t seem too exposed to higher volatility resulting from institutional trading.

Insider Ownership

Insiders form another group of important ownership types as they manage the company’s operations and decide the best use of capital. Insider ownership has been linked to better alignment between management and shareholders. IEC insiders hold a significant stake of 49.94% in the company. This level of insider ownership has been found to have a negative impact on companies with consistently low PE ratios (underperformers), while it has been positive in the case of high PE ratio firms (outperformers). It may be interesting to take a look at what company insiders have been doing with their holdings lately. Insiders buying company shares can be a positive indicator of future performance, but a selling decision can simply be driven by personal financial needs.

General Public Ownership

A big stake of 31.58% in IEC 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 group of owners that a potential investor in IEC should consider are private companies, with a stake of 12.18%. While they invest more often due to strategic interests, an investment can also be driven by capital gains through share price appreciation. This kind of ownership, if predominantly strategic, can give these companies a significant power to affect IEC’s business strategy. Thus, potential investors should look into these business relations and check how it can impact long-term shareholder returns.

Next Steps:

Institutional ownership level and composition in IEC is not high nor active enough to significantly impact its investment thesis. However, ownership structure should not be the only focus of your research when constructing an investment thesis around IEC. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as the intrinsic valuation, which is a key driver of Intra Energy’s share price. I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

  1. Financial Health: Is IEC’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.

  2. Past Track Record: Has IEC been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of IEC’s historicals for more clarity.

  3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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.

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