Private companies invested in WiseTech Global Limited (ASX:WTC) copped the brunt of last week's AU$4.3b market cap decline

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 4:26 PM 4 min read

If you want to know who really controls WiseTech Global Limited (ASX:WTC), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 38% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And following last week's 9.6% decline in share price, private companies suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of WiseTech Global, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for WiseTech Global

ownership-breakdown — ASX:WTC Ownership Breakdown November 25th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About WiseTech Global?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

WiseTech Global already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 WiseTech Global's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — ASX:WTC Earnings and Revenue Growth November 25th 2024

Hedge funds don't have many shares in WiseTech Global. Realwise Holdings Pty Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 38% of shares outstanding. Charles Gibbon is the second largest shareholder owning 5.2% of common stock, and Baillie Gifford & Co. holds about 5.0% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of WiseTech Global

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see that insiders own shares in WiseTech Global Limited. Insiders own AU$3.5b worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows a good 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-- including retail investors -- own 32% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 38%, of the WiseTech Global stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

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

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.

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In This Article:

Key Insights

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About WiseTech Global?

Insider Ownership Of WiseTech Global

General Public Ownership

Private Company Ownership

Next Steps:

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