The big shareholder groups in Australian Whisky Holdings Limited (ASX:AWY) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Warren Buffett said that he likes ‘a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people’. So it’s nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.
Australian Whisky Holdings is a smaller company with a market capitalization of AU$56.2m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions don’t own many shares in the company. Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about AWY.
View our latest analysis for Australian Whisky Holdings
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Australian Whisky Holdings?
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.
Less than 5% of Australian Whisky Holdings is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. So if the company itself can improve over time, we may well see more institutional buyers in the future. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.
We note that hedge funds don’t have a meaningful investment in Australian Whisky Holdings. As far I can tell there isn’t analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.
Insider Ownership Of Australian Whisky Holdings
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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.
Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Australian Whisky Holdings Limited. It has a market capitalization of just AU$56.2m, and insiders have AU$18.4m 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.