Key Insights

• Hamilton Thorne's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

• 48% of the business is held by the top 23 shareholders

• Insiders own 16% of Hamilton Thorne

Every investor in Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (TSE:HTL) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 52% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, institutions make up 32% of the company’s shareholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

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

See our latest analysis for Hamilton Thorne

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hamilton Thorne?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Hamilton Thorne already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Hamilton Thorne, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hamilton Thorne. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Daniel Thorne with 13% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 9.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 23 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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.