Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Autosports Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Insiders have bought recently

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Autosports Group Limited (ASX:ASG), 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 37% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

It's interesting to note that insiders have been buying shares recently. This could signal that stock prices could go up and insiders are here for it.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Autosports Group.

View our latest analysis for Autosports Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Autosports Group?

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.

We can see that Autosports Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Autosports Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It would appear that 8.6% of Autosports Group shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. James Pagent is currently the company's largest shareholder with 24% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 8.6% by the third-largest shareholder. Nicholas Pagent, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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 Autosports Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Autosports Group Limited. Insiders own AU$130m worth of shares in the AU$354m company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 13% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Autosports Group. 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 26%, of the company's shares. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Autosports Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Autosports Group (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.