Individual investors among NanoXplore Inc.'s (TSE:GRA) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 16% price drop

To get a sense of who is truly in control of NanoXplore Inc. (TSE:GRA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. 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).

As a result, individual investors as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by CA$102m.

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

View our latest analysis for NanoXplore

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About NanoXplore?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

NanoXplore 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 NanoXplore's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

NanoXplore is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Martinrea International Inc. with 21% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.3% and 6.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Soroush Nazarpour, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of NanoXplore

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in NanoXplore Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just CA$551m, and insiders have CA$46m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 58% of NanoXplore shares. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 21% of the NanoXplore shares on issue. 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for NanoXplore you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

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.