Who Are Proton Power Systems Plc's (LON:PPS) Major Shareholders?

I am going to take a deep dive into Proton Power Systems Plc’s (AIM:PPS) most recent ownership structure, not a frequent subject of discussion among individual investors. The impact of a company's ownership structure affects both its short- and long-term performance. The effect of an active institutional investor with a similar ownership as a passive pension-fund can be vastly different on a company's corporate governance and accountability to shareholders. While this may be more interesting for long-term investors, short-term investors can also benefit by paying attention to when these institutions trade in order to take advantage of the heightened volatility. Now I will analyze PPS's shareholder registry in more detail.

View our latest analysis for Proton Power Systems

Institutional Ownership

Due to the big order sizes of institutional investors, a company's shares can experience large, one-sided momentum, driven by high volume of shares removed from, or injected into, the market. With an institutional ownership of 5.86%, PPS doesn't seem too exposed to higher volatility resulting from institutional trading. Stocks with low coverage such as PPS, attracts renowned investor Peter Lynch, who has benefited from the momentum of institutions buying into a stock as it gained popularity.

Insider Ownership

Another important group of shareholders are company insiders. Insider ownership has to do more with how the company is managed and less to do with the direct impact of the magnitude of shares trading on the market. PPS insiders hold a minor stake in the company, which somewhat aligns their interests with that of shareholders. However, a higher level of insider ownership has been linked to management executing on high-returning projects instead of expansion projects for the sake of apparent growth. In addition to this, it may be interesting to look at insider buying and selling activities. Keep in mind that buying may be sign of upbeat future expectations, but selling doesn't necessarily mean the opposite as the insiders might just be doing it out of their personal financial needs.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds 1.04% stake in PPS, which represents a relatively small class of owners. This size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, but they can still make a collective impact on company policies if it aligns with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

Potential investors in PPS should also look at another important group of investors: private companies, with a stake of 92.58%, who are primarily invested because of strategic and capital gain interests. This kind of ownership, if predominantly strategic, can give these companies a significant power to affect PPS's business strategy. Thus, potential investors should look into these business relations and check how it can impact long-term shareholder returns.

Next Steps:

Institutional ownership level and composition in PPS is not high nor active enough to significantly impact its investment thesis. However, if you are building an investment case for PPS, ownership structure alone should not dictate your decision to buy or sell the stock. Instead, you should be evaluating company-specific factors such as Proton Power Systems's past track record and financial health. I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

• 1. Financial Health: Is PPS’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
• 2. Past Track Record: Has PPS been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of PPS's historicals for more clarity.
• 3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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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Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.