While institutions invested in U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU) benefited from last week's 11% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• U.S. Gold's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 43% ownership
• 15% of U.S. Gold is held by insiders

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If you want to know who really controls U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched US$236m last week, while institutions who own 25% also benefitted.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about U.S. Gold.

See our latest analysis for U.S. Gold

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About U.S. Gold?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in U.S. Gold. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 U.S. Gold's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

It looks like hedge funds own 6.0% of U.S. Gold shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Thomas Akin is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.8% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.0% and 4.5% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO George Bee directly holds 1.2% of the total shares outstanding.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of U.S. Gold

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. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of U.S. Gold Corp.. It has a market capitalization of just US$236m, and insiders have US$35m worth of shares in their own names. 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 substantial 54% stake in U.S. Gold, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand U.S. Gold better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with U.S. Gold (including 2 which are a bit unpleasant) .

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.