Cogna Educação S.A.'s (BVMF:COGN3) 5.5% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 49% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Cogna Educação indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 25 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutions own 34% of Cogna Educação

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Every investor in Cogna Educação S.A. (BVMF:COGN3) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 49% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Following a 5.5% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 34% stock also took a hit.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Cogna Educação.

Check out our latest analysis for Cogna Educação

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Cogna Educação?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Cogna Educação 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Cogna Educação's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

It looks like hedge funds own 18% of Cogna Educação shares. 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. Alaska Investimentos LTDA. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.5% and 5.3% of the stock.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Cogna Educação

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.

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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 49% stake in Cogna Educação. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Cogna Educação better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Cogna Educação (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) 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.