While institutions invested in Amaroq Minerals Ltd. (CVE:AMRQ) benefited from last week's 15% gain, retail investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Amaroq Minerals indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 41% of the business is held by the top 20 shareholders
• Insiders have been buying lately

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Amaroq Minerals Ltd. (CVE:AMRQ), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 59% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 15% increase in the stock price last week, retail investors profited the most, but institutions who own 20% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

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

View our latest analysis for Amaroq Minerals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Amaroq Minerals?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Amaroq Minerals. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Amaroq Minerals' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Amaroq Minerals is not owned by hedge funds. J L E Properties Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 7.3% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.1% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.0% by the third-largest shareholder. David Neuhauser, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors. Additionally, the company's CEO Eldur Olafsson directly holds 0.9% of the total shares outstanding.

Our studies suggest that the top 20 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.

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 Amaroq Minerals

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Amaroq Minerals Ltd.. In their own names, insiders own CA$50m worth of stock in the CA$658m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 59% stake in Amaroq Minerals, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 13%, of the Amaroq Minerals stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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 2 warning signs for Amaroq Minerals you should be aware of, and 1 of them is concerning.

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.