Investigating the Effect of Ownership Structure on Financial Performance of Listed Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria

The study examined the effect of ownership structure on the financial performance of Nigerian listed oil and gas companies for the period of 2009-2019. The specific objectives of this study are to: Determine the impact of managerial ownership on the return on equity of Nigeria's publicly traded oil and gas companies. Analyze the effect of institutional ownership on the return on equity of Nigeria's publicly traded oil and gas companies. Examine the effect of ownership concentration on the return on equity of Nigeria's publicly traded oil and gas companies. Secondary data were used, which were extracted from the financial reports and accounts of the companies that comprised the study's sample. The study employed OLS as the best estimator of the regression model. One of the findings revealed Managerial ownership has a positive significant impact on the Return on Equity of oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study recommends that, Managers should not be given the majority of shareholding in the ownership structure of the listed downstream oil and gas firms in Nigeria but rather they should be given a small portion of the shareholding of the listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Keywords: Managerial Ownership, Institutional Ownership, Ownership Concentration, Firm Financial Performance. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-12-05 Publication date:June 30th 202