Stock Analysis

What Kind Of Shareholder Owns Most SSR Mining Inc. (TSE:SSRM) Stock?

TSX:SSRM
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The big shareholder groups in SSR Mining Inc. (TSE:SSRM) have power over the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of CA$2.8b, SSR Mining is a decent size, so it is probably on the radar of institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about SSR Mining.

View 1 warning sign we detected for SSR Mining

TSX:SSRM Ownership Summary, December 24th 2019
TSX:SSRM Ownership Summary, December 24th 2019
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What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SSR Mining?

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.

SSR Mining already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 68% of the company. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see SSR Mining's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

TSX:SSRM Income Statement, December 24th 2019
TSX:SSRM Income Statement, December 24th 2019

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Hedge funds don't have many shares in SSR Mining. Van Eck Associates Corporation is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding, The second and third largest shareholders are Renaissance Technologies Corp. and Investec Asset Management Limited, holding 4.7% and 3.9%, respectively.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 17 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 SSR Mining

The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of SSR Mining Inc. in their own names. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own CA$4.9m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. When analysing a company, looking at ownership may seem a logical place to start. However, there are many other factors to consider, such as the risks within the company itself. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for SSR Mining which any shareholder or potential investor should be aware of.

General Public Ownership

With a 32% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over SSRM. 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.

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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.