Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, i-80 Gold's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 12 shareholders
• Insiders have bought recently

Every investor in i-80 Gold Corp. (TSE:IAU) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 43% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

After a year of 61% losses, last week’s 11% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of i-80 Gold.

View our latest analysis for i-80 Gold

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About i-80 Gold?

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.

i-80 Gold 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 i-80 Gold's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in i-80 Gold. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Orion Resource Partners (USA), L.P. with 15% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.5% and 4.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. In addition, we found that Richard Young, the CEO has 0.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 i-80 Gold

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in i-80 Gold Corp.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own CA$23m worth of the CA$348m company. 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 35% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over i-80 Gold. 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 15%, private equity firms could influence the i-80 Gold board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

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. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for i-80 Gold (of which 2 are concerning!) 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.