Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) stock most popular amongst public companies who own 70%, while individual investors hold 20%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 70% to be precise, is public companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And individual investors on the other hand have a 20% ownership in the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Great-West Lifeco.

View our latest analysis for Great-West Lifeco

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Great-West Lifeco?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Great-West Lifeco. 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 Great-West Lifeco, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Great-West Lifeco. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Power Corporation of Canada with 70% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 3.1% and 1.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Capital Research and Management Company and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Great-West Lifeco

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. 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 Great-West Lifeco Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own CA$27m of stock. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 20% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Great-West Lifeco. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 70% of Great-West Lifeco. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

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.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.