Recent uptick might appease Hallador Energy Company (NASDAQ:HNRG) institutional owners after losing 45% over the past year

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Hallador Energy implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Recent purchases by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Hallador Energy Company (NASDAQ:HNRG), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 50% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 16% increase in the share price after a year of 45% losses as a sign that returns may to begin trending higher.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Hallador Energy

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hallador Energy?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Hallador Energy. 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 Hallador Energy's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hallador Energy. The company's largest shareholder is Lubar & Co., Inc., with ownership of 12%. With 5.1% and 4.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Hallador Investment Advisors, Inc. and Aegis Financial Corporation are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Brent Bilsland, the CEO has 3.1% of the shares allocated to their name.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 52% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Hallador Energy

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 Hallador Energy Company. Insiders have a US$35m stake in this US$298m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 22% stake in Hallador Energy. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 12%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 4.5%, of the Hallador Energy stock. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hallador Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Hallador Energy is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.