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How Much Of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (CVE:SEB) Do Insiders Own?

If you want to know who really controls Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (CVE:SEB), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. 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.

Smart Employee Benefits is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of CA$28m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions are not on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about SEB.

Check out our latest analysis for Smart Employee Benefits

TSXV:SEB Ownership Summary, October 17th 2019
TSXV:SEB Ownership Summary, October 17th 2019

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Smart Employee Benefits?

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.

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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. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Smart Employee Benefits'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.

TSXV:SEB Income Statement, October 17th 2019
TSXV:SEB Income Statement, October 17th 2019

Smart Employee Benefits is not owned by hedge funds. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Smart Employee Benefits

The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

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 insiders own a significant proportion of Smart Employee Benefits Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just CA$28m, and insiders have CA$6.2m worth of shares in their own names. 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 68% stake in SEB, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this size of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to decline an acquisition or merger that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 9.5%, of the SEB stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

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.

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.