Individual investors are Coveo Solutions Inc.'s (TSE:CVO) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by CA$82m last week

Key Insights

• Coveo Solutions' significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 7 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Coveo Solutions is 18%

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If you want to know who really controls Coveo Solutions Inc. (TSE:CVO), 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 individual investors with 40% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, individual investors collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit CA$768m market cap following a 12% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Coveo Solutions

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coveo Solutions?

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 Coveo Solutions 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. 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 Coveo Solutions' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Coveo Solutions is not owned by hedge funds. Fonds de solidarité FTQ is currently the largest shareholder, with 14% of shares outstanding. Investissement Québec is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and Al-Rayyan Holding LLC holds about 7.7% of the company stock.

We did some more digging and found that 7 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Coveo Solutions

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 Coveo Solutions Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just CA$768m, and insiders have CA$35m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 40% stake in Coveo Solutions. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 27%, private equity firms could influence the Coveo Solutions board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 10%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Coveo Solutions better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Coveo Solutions has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.