Individual investors among Sagicor Financial Company Ltd.'s (TSE:SFC) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 8.9% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Sagicor Financial by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 41% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Sagicor Financial Company Ltd. (TSE:SFC), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 59% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, individual investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CA$70m last week.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Sagicor Financial

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sagicor Financial?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Sagicor Financial, for yourself, below.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sagicor Financial. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is JMMB Group Limited with 24% of shares outstanding. With 8.3% and 5.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, Reza Satchu and Alignvest Management Corporation are the second and third largest shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Sagicor Financial

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Sagicor Financial Company Ltd.. Insiders have a CA$89m stake in this CA$808m business. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 59% of Sagicor Financial. 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 5.8%, private equity firms could influence the Sagicor Financial board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 24% of the Sagicor Financial shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sagicor Financial better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Sagicor Financial (at least 1 which is concerning) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.