Yahoo Finance Positive week for WildBrain Ltd. (TSE:WILD) hedge funds investors who lost 3.2% over the past year
If you want to know who really controls WildBrain Ltd. (TSE:WILD), 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 47% to be precise, is hedge funds. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Hedge funds investors would appreciate the 13% increase in share prices last week, given their one-year returns have been disappointing at 3.2%.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of WildBrain.
See our latest analysis for WildBrain
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About WildBrain?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in WildBrain. 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. 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 WildBrain's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
It looks like hedge funds own 47% of WildBrain shares. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Fine Capital Partners, L.P. is currently the largest shareholder, with 38% of shares outstanding. With 9.7% and 3.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, EastBay Asset Management LLC and PRIMECAP Management Company are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Eric Ellenbogen is the owner of 1.2% of the company's shares.
To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.
Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of WildBrain
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
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 some shares in WildBrain Ltd.. In their own names, insiders own CA$24m worth of stock in the CA$534m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 43% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
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 3 warning signs for WildBrain (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
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