Sylvania Platinum Limited (LON:SLP) surges 16%; individual investors who own 59% shares profited along with institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Sylvania Platinum by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 19 shareholders own 41% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

Every investor in Sylvania Platinum Limited (LON:SLP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 59% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While individual investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 16% price gain, institutions also received a 30% cut.

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

See our latest analysis for Sylvania Platinum

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sylvania Platinum?

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.

We can see that Sylvania Platinum does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Sylvania Platinum's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sylvania Platinum. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Africa Asia Capital Limited with 10% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.1% and 5.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. In addition, we found that Johannes Prinsloo, the CEO has 0.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 19 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Sylvania Platinum

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see that insiders own shares in Sylvania Platinum Limited. In their own names, insiders own UK£1.8m worth of stock in the UK£141m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 59% of Sylvania Platinum shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 10%, of the company's shares. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Sylvania Platinum you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.