Individual investors invested in Peak Minerals Limited (ASX:PUA) copped the brunt of last week's AU$23m market cap decline

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Peak Minerals indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 22 shareholders own 34% of the company
• Insiders own 31% of Peak Minerals

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Every investor in Peak Minerals Limited (ASX:PUA) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 57% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While insiders, who own 31% shares weren’t spared from last week’s AU$23m market cap drop, individual investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

See our latest analysis for Peak Minerals

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Peak Minerals?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Peak Minerals, for yourself, below.

Peak Minerals is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Jason Peterson, with ownership of 5.3%. With 4.5% and 3.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Phillip Gallagher and Kendali Pty Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders.

Our studies suggest that the top 22 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.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Peak Minerals

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Peak Minerals Limited. It has a market capitalization of just AU$157m, and insiders have AU$48m worth of shares in their own names. 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 substantial 57% stake in Peak Minerals, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 12%, 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:

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. Take risks for example - Peak Minerals has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.