Yahoo Finance Saputo Inc.'s (TSE:SAP) largest shareholders are private companies with 41% ownership, individual investors own 39%
Key Insights
Significant control over Saputo by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
Every investor in Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 41% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And individual investors on the other hand have a 39% ownership in the company.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Saputo.
See our latest analysis for Saputo
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Saputo?
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 Saputo. 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 Saputo's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Saputo is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Jolina Capital Inc. with 31% of shares outstanding. Placements Italcan Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 10% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 2.1% of the company stock.
We also observed that the top 8 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
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 Saputo
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.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Saputo Inc.. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own CA$92m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
With a 39% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Saputo. 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.
Private Company Ownership
It seems that Private Companies own 41%, of the Saputo stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Saputo better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Saputo , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.
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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.
