K92 Mining Inc.'s (TSE:KNT) institutional investors lost 4.4% over the past week but have profited from longer-term gains

Simply Wall St · 09/28 13:36

Key Insights

  • Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, K92 Mining's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
  • A total of 23 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
  • Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of K92 Mining Inc. (TSE:KNT) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 54% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Losing money on investments is something no shareholder enjoys, least of all institutional investors who saw their holdings value drop by 4.4% last week. Still, the 36% one-year gains may have helped mitigate their overall losses. But they would probably be wary of future losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of K92 Mining, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for K92 Mining

ownership-breakdown
TSX:KNT Ownership Breakdown September 28th 2024

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About K92 Mining?

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.

We can see that K92 Mining does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 K92 Mining's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
TSX:KNT Earnings and Revenue Growth September 28th 2024

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in K92 Mining. L1 Capital Pty. Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.8% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO John Lewins is the owner of 1.5% of the company's shares.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 23 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over 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 K92 Mining

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 K92 Mining Inc.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own CA$35m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 44% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over K92 Mining. 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.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with K92 Mining , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.