Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Northland Power indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

• The top 25 shareholders own 42% of the company

• Insiders have been buying lately

A look at the shareholders of Northland Power Inc. (TSE:NPI) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While institutions who own 48% came under pressure after market cap dropped to CA$5.8b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

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

View our latest analysis for Northland Power

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Northland Power?

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.

Northland Power already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Northland Power, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Northland Power. BMO Asset Management Corp. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.8% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.1% and 3.9% of the stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Northland Power

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.