With 40% ownership in Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI), insiders continue to have the largest holding even though they have sold shares recently

In This Article:

Key Insights

  • Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Maple Leaf Foods' growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership

  • A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership

  • Insiders have sold recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 40% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Despite selling some shares recently, insiders control a good portion of the company's stock.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Maple Leaf Foods.

See our latest analysis for Maple Leaf Foods

ownership-breakdown
TSX:MFI Ownership Breakdown September 12th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Maple Leaf Foods?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that Maple Leaf Foods 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. 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 Maple Leaf Foods' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
TSX:MFI Earnings and Revenue Growth September 12th 2024

Maple Leaf Foods is not owned by hedge funds. Our data suggests that Michael McCain, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 40%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. RBC Global Asset Management Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 2.4% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.