Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

Every investor in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 46% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

After a year of 11% losses, last week's 9.4% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure?

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.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure. The company's largest shareholder is Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., with ownership of 42%. With 4.5% and 4.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Morgan Stanley, Investment Banking and Brokerage Investments and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. are the second and third largest shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 information suggests that Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around US$3.1m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 12% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 42% of the Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .

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.