What Kind Of Shareholder Owns Most Allied Farmers Limited (NZSE:ALF) Stock?

The big shareholder groups in Allied Farmers Limited (NZSE:ALF) have power over the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.'

Allied Farmers is a smaller company with a market capitalization of NZ$12m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions don't own many shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about ALF.

Check out our latest analysis for Allied Farmers

NZSE:ALF Ownership Summary, August 19th 2019
NZSE:ALF Ownership Summary, August 19th 2019

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Allied Farmers?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Allied Farmers's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

NZSE:ALF Income Statement, August 19th 2019
NZSE:ALF Income Statement, August 19th 2019

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Allied Farmers. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Allied Farmers

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 a reasonable proportion of Allied Farmers Limited. Insiders own NZ$2.8m worth of shares in the NZ$12m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly retail investors, hold a substantial 53% stake in ALF, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 24%, of the company's shares. 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 Allied Farmers better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.