Sovereign Metals Limited's (ASX:SVM) market cap surged AU$37m last week, individual investors who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Sovereign Metals indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 25 shareholders own 42% of the company
• Insider ownership in Sovereign Metals is 12%

If you want to know who really controls Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM), 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 58% to be precise, is individual investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, individual investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 14% gain.

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

View our latest analysis for Sovereign Metals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sovereign Metals?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Sovereign Metals 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Sovereign Metals' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Sovereign Metals. Our data shows that Rio Tinto Group is the largest shareholder with 15% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.8% and 2.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Julian Stephens, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Sovereign Metals

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 Sovereign Metals Limited. It has a market capitalization of just AU$284m, and insiders have AU$35m 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 -- including retail investors -- own 58% of Sovereign Metals. 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 3.5%, 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 16% of Sovereign Metals stock. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sovereign Metals better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Sovereign Metals is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those shouldn't be ignored...

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.