TerraVest Industries Inc.'s (TSE:TVK) market cap dropped CA$91m last week; individual investors who hold 46% were hit as were institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over TerraVest Industries by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 14 shareholders
• Insiders have sold recently

If you want to know who really controls TerraVest Industries Inc. (TSE:TVK), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 46% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions, who own 22% shares weren’t spared from last week’s CA$91m market cap drop, individual investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of TerraVest Industries.

View our latest analysis for TerraVest Industries

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About TerraVest Industries?

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.

We can see that TerraVest Industries does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 TerraVest Industries' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in TerraVest Industries. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In TerraVest Industries' case, its Top Key Executive, Charles Pellerin, is the largest shareholder, holding 18% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 10% of the shares outstanding respectively, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. and Lee-Lan Holdings Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders. Additionally, the company's CEO Dustin Haw directly holds 1.0% of the total shares outstanding.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 14 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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

Insider Ownership Of TerraVest Industries

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. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of TerraVest Industries Inc.. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful CA$473m stake in this CA$2.2b business. 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 46% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over TerraVest Industries. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 10%, of the TerraVest Industries stock. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for TerraVest Industries that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.