In this article, I’m going to take a look at Auris Minerals Limited’s (ASX:AUR) latest ownership structure, a non-fundamental factor which is important, but remains a less discussed subject among investors. Ownership structure of a company has been found to affect share performance over time. Since the effect of an active institutional investor with a similar ownership as a passive pension-fund can be vastly different on a company’s corporate governance and accountability of shareholders, investors should take a closer look at AUR’s shareholder registry.

View our latest analysis for Auris Minerals

Institutional Ownership

With an institutional ownership of 32.33%, AUR can face volatile stock price movements if institutions execute block trades on the open market, more so, when there are relatively small amounts of shares available on the market to trade However, as not all institutions are alike, such high volatility events, especially in the short-term, have been more frequently linked to active market participants like hedge funds. In the case of AUR, investors need not worry about such volatility considering active hedge funds don’t have a significant stake. However, we should dig deeper into AUR’s ownership structure and find out how other key ownership classes can affect its investment profile.

Insider Ownership

Another important group of shareholders are company insiders. Insider ownership has to do more with how the company is managed and less to do with the direct impact of the magnitude of shares trading on the market. With 8.91% ownership, AUR insiders is an important ownership type. An insider stake of this level indicates that executives are highly aligned with the shareholders as both stand to gain when the value of the company rises. I will also like to check what insiders have been doing recently with their holdings. insider buying may be a sign of upbeat future expectations, however, selling doesn’t necessarily mean the opposite as insiders may be motivated by their personal financial needs.

General Public Ownership

A substantial ownership of 42.95% in AUR is held by the general public. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power in deciding on major policy decisions such as executive compensation, appointment of directors and acquisitions of businesses. This level of ownership gives retail investors the power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and potential acquisitions. This is a positive sign for an investor who wants to be involved in key decision-making of the company.

Private Company Ownership

Another group of owners that a potential investor in AUR should consider are private companies, with a stake of 14.07%. While they invest more often due to strategic interests, an investment can also be driven by capital gains through share price appreciation. An ownership of this size indicates a strong financial backing and has the potential to influence AUR’s business strategy. Thus, investors should dig deeper into AUR’s business relations with these companies and how it can affect shareholder returns in the long-term.

Next Steps:

The company’s high institutional ownership makes margin of safety a very important consideration to existing investors since long bull and bear trends often emerge when these big-ticket investors see a change in long-term potential of the company. This will allow investors to reduce the impact of non-fundamental factors, such as volatile block trading impact on their portfolio value. However, if you are building an investment case for AUR, ownership structure alone should not dictate your decision to buy or sell the stock. Rather, you should be examining fundamental factors such as Auris Minerals’s past track record and financial health. I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

1. Financial Health: Is AUR’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.

2. Past Track Record: Has AUR been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of AUR’s historicals for more clarity.

3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.