Could The Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful? – Simply Wall St

If you want to know who really controls Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS), then youll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

With a market capitalization of US$14m, Hornbeck Offshore Services is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions own shares in the company. Lets take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about HOS.

View our latest analysis for Hornbeck Offshore Services

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.

We can see that Hornbeck Offshore Services does have institutional investors; and they hold 29% of the stock. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Hornbeck Offshore Services, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 28% of Hornbeck Offshore Services. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$1.2m worth of stock in the US$14m company. This shows at least some alignment, but I usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

The general public holds a 30% stake in HOS. 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.

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.4%, of the companys shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Its always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hornbeck Offshore Services 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.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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Could The Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful? - Simply Wall St