If you want to know who really controls AltaGas Canada Inc. (TSE:ACI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership.
With a market capitalization of CA$738m, AltaGas Canada is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about ACI.
View our latest analysis for AltaGas Canada
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About AltaGas Canada?
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.
AltaGas Canada already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 30% of the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 AltaGas Canada's earnings history, below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
AltaGas Canada is not owned by hedge funds. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of AltaGas Canada
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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our information suggests that AltaGas Canada Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. It seems the board members have no more than CA$6.7m worth of shares in the CA$738m company. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public holds a 32% stake in ACI. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.