Key Insights
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Significant insider control over MA Financial Group implies vested interests in company growth
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The top 4 shareholders own 55% of the company
If you want to know who really controls MA Financial Group Limited (ASX:MAF), 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 31% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Even though insiders have sold shares recently, the group owns the most numbers of shares in the company.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of MA Financial Group.
Check out our latest analysis for MA Financial Group
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About MA Financial Group?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in MA Financial Group. 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. 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 MA Financial Group’s historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there’s always more to the story.
We note that hedge funds don’t have a meaningful investment in MA Financial Group. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is Andrew Pridham (who also holds the title of Top Key Executive) with 22% of shares outstanding. Its usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we’re glad to see a company insider play the role of a key stakeholder. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 14% and 11%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Furthermore, CEO Julian Biggins is the owner of 3.3% of the company’s shares.
On looking further, we found that 55% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock’s expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of MA Financial Group
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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of MA Financial Group Limited. Insiders have a AU$245m stake in this AU$793m business. 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 28% stake in MA Financial Group. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.
Private Company Ownership
We can see that Private Companies own 14%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.
Public Company Ownership
It appears to us that public companies own 14% of MA Financial Group. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we’ve discovered 4 warning signs for MA Financial Group (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.
