Key Insights

The considerable ownership by individual investors in Greatland Gold indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy The top 25 shareholders own 44% of the company 34% of Greatland Gold is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 51% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While individual investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 4.4% price gain, institutions also received a 34% cut.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Greatland Gold.

View our latest analysis for Greatland Gold AIM:GGP Ownership Breakdown February 24th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Greatland Gold?

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 Greatland Gold. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Greatland Gold's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.AIM:GGP Earnings and Revenue Growth February 24th 2025

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Greatland Gold. Wyloo Consolidated Investments Pty Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.4% of shares outstanding. With 6.1% and 5.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Tembo Capital Holdings Guernsey Ltd and Firetrail Investments Pty Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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.

Story Continues

Insider Ownership Of Greatland Gold

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 less than 1% of Greatland Gold plc. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own UK£4.0m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of Greatland Gold. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 15%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Greatland Gold better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Greatland Gold (2 make us 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.

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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.

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