Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:TR) CEO Ellen Gordon is the most upbeat insider, and their holdings increased by 3.5% last week

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Tootsie Roll Industries' growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• Ellen Gordon owns 56% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Tootsie Roll Industries is 17%

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If you want to know who really controls Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 70% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, insiders benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by US$95m last week.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Tootsie Roll Industries

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Tootsie Roll Industries?

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 Tootsie Roll Industries 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 Tootsie Roll Industries' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Tootsie Roll Industries. The company's CEO Ellen Gordon is the largest shareholder with 56% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider with such skin in the game. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.8% and 3.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Karen Mills is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Tootsie Roll Industries

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. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means insiders have a very meaningful US$2.2b stake in this US$3.2b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to discover if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 13% stake in Tootsie Roll Industries. 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.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.