Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Syrah Resources' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

• Recent purchases by insiders

If you want to know who really controls Syrah Resources Limited (ASX:SYR), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 54% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And so it follows that institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to AU$399m last week after a 14% drop in the share price. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 45% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Institutions or "liquidity providers" control large sums of money and therefore, these types of investors usually have a lot of influence over stock price movements. Hence, if weakness in Syrah Resources' share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Syrah Resources.

Check out our latest analysis for Syrah Resources

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Syrah Resources?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Syrah Resources. 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 Syrah Resources' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Syrah Resources. Australian Super Pty Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. With 8.5% and 4.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Paradice Investment Management Pty Ltd. and Citigroup Inc.,Banking and Securities Investments are the second and third largest shareholders.

We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Syrah Resources

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Syrah Resources Limited. It has a market capitalization of just AU$399m, and insiders have AU$21m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Syrah Resources. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Syrah Resources .

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.