AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.'s (NYSE:AMC) 3.6% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 52% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over AMC Entertainment Holdings by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 44% ownership
• Institutions own 41% of AMC Entertainment Holdings

If you want to know who really controls AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While institutions who own 41% came under pressure after market cap dropped to US$1.5b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of AMC Entertainment Holdings, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for AMC Entertainment Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About AMC Entertainment Holdings?

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.

AMC Entertainment Holdings already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 AMC Entertainment Holdings' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 6.5% of AMC Entertainment Holdings. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 9.4% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.9% and 6.5% of the stock.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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

Insider Ownership Of AMC Entertainment Holdings

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 less than 1% of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own US$4.4m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 52% of AMC Entertainment Holdings. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand AMC Entertainment Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for AMC Entertainment Holdings (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.