individual investors who own 47% along with institutions invested in Americas Gold and Silver Corporation (TSE:USA) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Americas Gold and Silver indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 16 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• 24% of Americas Gold and Silver is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Americas Gold and Silver Corporation (TSE:USA), 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 47% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While individual investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 12% price gain, institutions also received a 24% cut.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Americas Gold and Silver.

See our latest analysis for Americas Gold and Silver

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Americas Gold and Silver?

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 Americas Gold and Silver. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Americas Gold and Silver, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Americas Gold and Silver. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Sprott Mining Inc. with 20% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.6% by the third-largest shareholder. Paul Huet, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Americas Gold and Silver

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Americas Gold and Silver Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just CA$475m, and insiders have CA$30m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 47% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 20%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Americas Gold and Silver .

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.