While institutions invested in Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos, Participações e Comércio S.A (BVMF:VTRU3) benefited from last week's 12% gain, retail investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• Significant control over Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 5 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutions own 33% of Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio

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If you want to know who really controls Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos, Participações e Comércio S.A (BVMF:VTRU3), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 36% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched R$1.2b last week, while institutions who own 33% also benefitted.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio. 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. 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 Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio. Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC is currently the largest shareholder, with 13% of shares outstanding. 23S Capital Ltda. is the second largest shareholder owning 12% of common stock, and Vinci Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltda. holds about 10% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 5 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 Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio

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.

We note our data does not show any board members 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-- including retail investors -- own 36% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

Private equity firms hold a 22% stake in Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Vitru Brasil Empreendimentos Participações e Comércio (of which 2 are a bit 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.