Key Insights

• Significant insider control over Costamare implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 58% ownership
• Institutions own 28% of Costamare

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Costamare Inc. (NYSE:CMRE), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 58% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Costamare regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Costamare.

Check out our latest analysis for Costamare

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Costamare?

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.

Costamare 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. 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 Costamare, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Costamare. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Konstantinos Konstantakopoulos with 26% of shares outstanding. With 16% and 16% of the shares outstanding respectively, Achillefs Konstantakopoulos and Christos Konstantakopoulos are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Costamare

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Costamare Inc.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means insiders have a very meaningful US$732m stake in this US$1.3b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to discover if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 11% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Costamare. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Costamare better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Costamare is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.

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This article by Simply Wall St 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. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.