Insiders were the biggest winners as Wall Financial Corporation's (TSE:WFC) market cap grew by CA$45m last week

Key Insights

• Wall Financial's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Wall Financial Corporation (TSE:WFC), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 61% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit CA$494m market cap following a 10.0% gain in the stock.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Wall Financial

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wall Financial?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Wall Financial's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Wall Financial. The company's largest shareholder is Peter Wall, with ownership of 33%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 22% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 14% by the third-largest shareholder. Oliver Borgers, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board. Additionally, the company's CEO Bruno Wall directly holds 13% of the total shares outstanding.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Wall Financial

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Wall Financial Corporation. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means they own CA$304m worth of shares in the CA$494m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Wall Financial. 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 22%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Wall Financial better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Wall Financial .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.