Institutions profited after CES Energy Solutions Corp.'s (TSE:CEU) market cap rose CA$86m last week but retail investors profited the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in CES Energy Solutions indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 41% ownership
• Recent sales by insiders

If you want to know who really controls CES Energy Solutions Corp. (TSE:CEU), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 56% 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).

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s CA$86m market cap gain, institutions too had a 40% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of CES Energy Solutions, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for CES Energy Solutions

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CES Energy Solutions?

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.

We can see that CES Energy Solutions does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 CES Energy Solutions' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in CES Energy Solutions. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. with 16% of shares outstanding. FMR LLC is the second largest shareholder owning 5.2% of common stock, and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP holds about 3.5% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Kenneth Zinger, the CEO has 0.9% of the shares allocated to their name.

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 CES Energy Solutions

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. 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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in CES Energy Solutions Corp.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth CA$78m. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 56% of CES Energy Solutions. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with CES Energy Solutions .

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.