Yahoo Finance Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI) CEO Michael McCain, the company's largest shareholder sees 3.0% reduction in holdings value
To get a sense of who is truly in control of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSE:MFI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 40% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by CA$87m.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Maple Leaf Foods, beginning with the chart below.
Check out our latest analysis for Maple Leaf Foods
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Maple Leaf Foods?
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 Maple Leaf Foods. 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. 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 Maple Leaf Foods' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Maple Leaf Foods is not owned by hedge funds. With a 40% stake, CEO Michael McCain is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.2% by the third-largest shareholder.
To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.
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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Maple Leaf Foods
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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Maple Leaf Foods Inc.. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful CA$980m stake in this CA$2.4b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 33% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Maple Leaf Foods is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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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