Alpha HPA Limited's (ASX:A4N) last week's 10% decline must have disappointed individual investors who have a significant stake

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Alpha HPA indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 19 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insider ownership in Alpha HPA is 17%

If you want to know who really controls Alpha HPA Limited (ASX:A4N), 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 48% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While insiders who own 17% came under pressure after market cap dropped to AU$908m last week,individual investors took the most losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Alpha HPA.

View our latest analysis for Alpha HPA

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Alpha HPA?

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 Alpha HPA 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 Alpha HPA, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It looks like hedge funds own 6.3% of Alpha HPA shares. 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. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Regal Partners Limited with 6.3% of shares outstanding. With 5.9% and 5.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Norman Seckold and Macquarie Group, Ltd., Banking & Securities Investments are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Rimas Kairaitis is the owner of 1.4% of the company's shares.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 19 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Alpha HPA

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Alpha HPA Limited. Insiders own AU$157m worth of shares in the AU$908m company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 48% stake in Alpha HPA. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 7.4%, of the Alpha HPA stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 4.0% of the Alpha HPA shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Alpha HPA you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com