Significant control over i-80 Gold by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 39% ownership
If you want to know who really controls i-80 Gold Corp. (TSE:IAU), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 56% to be precise, is retail investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Following a 9.6% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 36% stock also took a hit.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about i-80 Gold.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About i-80 Gold?
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.
i-80 Gold 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 i-80 Gold, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
earnings-and-revenue-growth
Our data indicates that hedge funds own 5.6% of i-80 Gold. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. MM Asset Management Inc is currently the largest shareholder, with 5.6% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.5% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that Ewan Downie, the CEO has 1.8% of the shares allocated to their name.
A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.
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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.
Insider Ownership Of i-80 Gold
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in i-80 Gold Corp.. In their own names, insiders own CA$13m worth of stock in the CA$522m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 56% stake in i-80 Gold, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Be aware that i-80 Gold is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...
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.
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