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If you want to know who really controls Overseas Education Limited (SGX:RQ1), then you’ll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. 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.

With a market capitalization of S$125m, Overseas Education is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about RQ1.

See our latest analysis for Overseas Education

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Overseas Education?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Overseas Education already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 8.3% of 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 Overseas Education’s historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there’s always more to the story.

Hedge funds don’t have many shares in Overseas Education. Our information suggests that there isn’t any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Overseas Education

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Overseas Education Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of S$125m, that means they have S$81m worth of shares. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.