The considerable ownership by private companies in Nickel Industries indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
51% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
Every investor in Nickel Industries Limited (ASX:NIC) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
And last week, private companies endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 9.0%.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Nickel Industries.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nickel Industries?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Nickel Industries. 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 Nickel Industries, (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 Nickel Industries. Our data shows that Tsingshan Holding Group Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 22% of shares outstanding. With 20% and 8.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Pt Danusa Nusantara and PT Karunia Bara Perkasa are the second and third largest shareholders. Additionally, the company's CEO Justin Werner directly holds 0.8% of the total shares outstanding.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Nickel Industries
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.
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.
We can see that insiders own shares in Nickel Industries Limited. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own AU$263m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
With a 20% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Nickel Industries. 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.
Private Company Ownership
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 54%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Nickel Industries better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Nickel Industries you should know about.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this freereport on analyst forecasts.
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.