What Is The Ownership Structure Like For Copper Fox Metals Inc. (CVE:CUU)?

If you want to know who really controls Copper Fox Metals Inc. (CVE:CUU), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

With a market capitalization of CA$150m, Copper Fox Metals is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutional investors have not yet purchased shares. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Copper Fox Metals.

View our latest analysis for Copper Fox Metals

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Copper Fox Metals?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Copper Fox Metals might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Copper Fox Metals. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Ernesto Echavarria with 55% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 1.4% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.0% by the third-largest shareholder. Elmer Stewart, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Copper Fox 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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Copper Fox Metals Inc. stock. This gives them a lot of power. So they have a CA$87m stake in this CA$150m business. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 42% stake in Copper Fox 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Copper Fox Metals you should be aware of, and 2 of them shouldn't be ignored.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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