Every investor in Tamaska Oil and Gas Limited (ASX:TMK) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. 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.

Tamaska Oil and Gas is a smaller company with a market capitalization of AU$3.4m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have not yet purchased shares. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about TMK.

See our latest analysis for Tamaska Oil and Gas

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Tamaska Oil and Gas?

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 multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to fund under management, so the institition does not bother to look closely at the company. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Tamaska Oil and Gas might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Tamaska Oil and Gas is not owned by hedge funds. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Tamaska Oil and Gas

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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Tamaska Oil and Gas Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. Given it has a market cap of AU$3.4m, that means they have AU$2.2m worth of shares. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 19% stake in TMK. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 18%, 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 Tamaska Oil and Gas better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.