Individual investors are Northern Minerals Limited's (ASX:NTU) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by AU$16m last week

Key Insights

• Northern Minerals' significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 47% of the business is held by the top 23 shareholders
• Insiders own 16% of Northern Minerals

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Northern Minerals Limited (ASX:NTU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, individual investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by AU$16m last week.

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

View our latest analysis for Northern Minerals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Northern Minerals?

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.

Less than 5% of Northern Minerals is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Northern Minerals. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Vastness Investment Group Limited with 8.0% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 6.5% and 6.2%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Our studies suggest that the top 23 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.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Northern Minerals

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.

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 Northern Minerals Limited. Insiders have a AU$29m stake in this AU$177m business. 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 -- including retail investors -- own 53% of Northern Minerals. 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 28%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Northern Minerals better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for Northern Minerals (2 are concerning) that you should be aware of.

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.