Individual investors invested in MA Financial Group Limited (ASX:MAF) up 9.4% last week, insiders too were rewarded

Key Insights

• Significant control over MA Financial Group by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 28% of MA Financial Group is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls MA Financial Group Limited (ASX:MAF), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 43% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While individual investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 9.4% price gain, insiders also received a 28% cut.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of MA Financial Group.

Check out our latest analysis for MA Financial Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About MA Financial Group?

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.

We can see that MA Financial Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 MA Financial Group, (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 MA Financial Group. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In MA Financial Group's case, its Top Key Executive, Andrew Pridham, is the largest shareholder, holding 19% of shares outstanding. With 8.0% and 7.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Fidelity International Ltd and Moelis & Company, Asset Management Arm are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Julian Biggins, the CEO has 3.1% of the shares allocated to their name.

We did some more digging and found that 9 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of MA Financial Group

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. 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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of MA Financial Group Limited. Insiders own AU$378m worth of shares in the AU$1.3b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in MA Financial Group. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 4.0% of the MA Financial Group shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for MA Financial Group that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.

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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.