Individual investors account for 40% of ATCO Ltd.'s (TSE:ACO.X) ownership, while private companies account for 34%

Key Insights

• Significant control over ATCO by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 7 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Recent purchases by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of ATCO Ltd. (TSE:ACO.X), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 40% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And private companies on the other hand have a 34% ownership in the company.

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

View our latest analysis for ATCO

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ATCO?

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.

ATCO already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 ATCO's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

ATCO is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Sentgraf Enterprises Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 34% of shares outstanding. RBC Global Asset Management Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 6.3% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 2.6% of the company stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Nancy Southern directly holds 0.6% of the total shares outstanding.

We also observed that the top 7 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of ATCO

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in ATCO Ltd.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around CA$70m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 40% stake in ATCO. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 34%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand ATCO better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for ATCO that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.