Institutional investors have a lot riding on Red 5 Limited (ASX:RED) with 52% ownership

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Red 5's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 9 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of Red 5 Limited (ASX:RED) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 52% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And as as result, institutional investors reaped the most rewards after the company's stock price gained 9.0% last week. One-year return to shareholders is currently 143% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Red 5.

View our latest analysis for Red 5

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Red 5?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Red 5. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Red 5's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Red 5. Our data shows that Silver Lake Resources Limited is the largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Red 5

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Red 5 Limited. In their own names, insiders own AU$20m worth of stock in the AU$1.3b company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 31% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Red 5. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 4.7%, of the company's shares. 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 11% of the Red 5 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:

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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Red 5 you should know about.

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.

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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.