Yahoo Finance While institutions invested in Mainfreight Limited (NZSE:MFT) benefited from last week's 4.5% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most
Every investor in Mainfreight Limited (NZSE:MFT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 52% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
While individual investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s NZ$306m market cap gain, institutions too had a 30% share in those profits.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Mainfreight.
View our latest analysis for Mainfreight
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Mainfreight?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Mainfreight. 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 Mainfreight, (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 Mainfreight. Our data suggests that Bruce Plested, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 15%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. Fisher Funds Management Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 4.7% of common stock, and Harbour Asset Management Limited holds about 3.5% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Donald Braid is the owner of 2.9% of the company's shares.
Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.
Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Mainfreight
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Mainfreight Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful NZ$1.3b stake in this NZ$7.1b business. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 52% of Mainfreight shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Mainfreight better, we need to consider many other factors.
I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.
Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
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