Both individual investors who control a good portion of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSE:FVI) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 15% decrease

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Fortuna Silver Mines indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 32% ownership
• Insiders have sold recently

A look at the shareholders of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSE:FVI) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 58% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 15% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 41% stock also took a hit.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Fortuna Silver Mines

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fortuna Silver Mines?

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.

Fortuna Silver Mines already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Fortuna Silver Mines' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Fortuna Silver Mines. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Van Eck Associates Corporation with 11% of shares outstanding. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 2.6% of common stock, and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP holds about 1.9% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Jorge Ganoza Durant, the CEO has 0.7% of the shares allocated to their name.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 Fortuna Silver Mines

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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth CA$25m. Most would see this as a real positive. If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 58% of Fortuna Silver Mines. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Fortuna Silver Mines better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Fortuna Silver Mines .

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.

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.