Macquarie Technology Group Limited (ASX:MAQ) CEO David Tudehope, the company's largest shareholder sees 4.4% reduction in holdings value

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Macquarie Technology Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• The top 3 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Macquarie Technology Group is 21%

If you want to know who really controls Macquarie Technology Group Limited (ASX:MAQ), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 43% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by AU$94m.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Macquarie Technology Group.

Check out our latest analysis for Macquarie Technology Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Macquarie Technology Group?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Macquarie Technology Group 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 Macquarie Technology Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

It would appear that 5.2% of Macquarie Technology Group shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO David Tudehope with 41% of shares outstanding. With 5.2% and 5.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Regal Partners Limited and Viburnum Funds Pty Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Macquarie Technology Group

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Macquarie Technology Group Limited. Insiders own AU$875m worth of shares in the AU$2.0b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

With a 30% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Macquarie Technology Group. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Macquarie Technology Group better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.