Following a 60% decline over last year, recent gains may please i-80 Gold Corp. (TSE:IAU) institutional owners

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies i-80 Gold's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders have bought recently

If you want to know who really controls i-80 Gold Corp. (TSE:IAU), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 43% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Last week's CA$53m market cap gain would probably be appreciated by institutional investors, especially after a year of 60% losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about i-80 Gold.

See our latest analysis for i-80 Gold

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About i-80 Gold?

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.

We can see that i-80 Gold 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 i-80 Gold's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in i-80 Gold. The company's largest shareholder is Orion Resource Partners (USA), L.P., with ownership of 15%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.9% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that Richard Young, the CEO has 0.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that 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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of i-80 Gold

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in i-80 Gold Corp.. It has a market capitalization of just CA$279m, and insiders have CA$19m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 35% stake in i-80 Gold. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 15% stake in i-80 Gold. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - i-80 Gold has 4 warning signs (and 2 which are a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.