Empire Company Limited's (TSE:EMP.A) top owners are individual investors with 38% stake, while 28% is held by private companies

Key Insights

• Significant control over Empire by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Insiders have been selling lately

Every investor in Empire Company Limited (TSE:EMP.A) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 38% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, private companies make up 28% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Empire, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Empire

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Empire?

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 Empire 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Empire, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Empire is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Sumac Holdings Limited is the largest shareholder with 14% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 13% and 13%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Empire

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. 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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Empire Company Limited. Insiders own CA$1.4b worth of shares in the CA$10b 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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 38% stake in Empire. 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 28%, 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.

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.

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.

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.