Alithya Group Inc.'s (TSE:ALYA) 12% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 47% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Alithya Group by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 13 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders have sold recently

Every investor in Alithya Group Inc. (TSE:ALYA) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 47% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 12% price drop, institutions with their 22% holdings also suffered.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Alithya Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Alithya Group?

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.

We can see that Alithya Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Alithya Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Alithya Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Les Placements Peladeau Inc. with 10% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10% and 9.3% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Paul Raymond directly holds 0.7% of the total shares outstanding.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 13 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Alithya Group

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. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Alithya Group Inc.. Insiders own CA$29m worth of shares in the CA$153m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Alithya Group. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 12%, of the company's shares. 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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.