Institutions profited after Cornish Metals Inc.'s (CVE:CUSN) market cap rose CA$19m last week but retail investors profited the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Cornish Metals indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 58% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Insiders have been buying lately

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A look at the shareholders of Cornish Metals Inc. (CVE:CUSN) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 37% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 13% increase in the stock price last week, retail investors profited the most, but institutions who own 29% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Cornish Metals, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Cornish Metals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Cornish Metals?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Cornish Metals. 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. 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 Cornish Metals' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Cornish Metals is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Vision Blue Resources Ltd., with ownership of 29%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 28% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Cornish Metals

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Cornish Metals Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own CA$9.0m worth of the CA$163m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though we generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 37% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Cornish Metals. 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 Cornish Metals better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Cornish Metals has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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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Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.