Cogeco Communications Inc.'s (TSE:CCA) market cap touched CA$2.9b last week, benefiting both retail investors who own 36% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Cogeco Communications' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Cogeco Communications is 35%

Our free stock report includes 1 warning sign investors should be aware of before investing in Cogeco Communications. Read for free now.

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSE:CCA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company 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 CA$2.9b last week, while institutions who own 35% also benefitted.

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

See our latest analysis for Cogeco Communications

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Cogeco Communications?

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 Cogeco Communications. 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. 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 Cogeco Communications, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Cogeco Communications is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Gestion Audem, Inc., with ownership of 28%. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is the second largest shareholder owning 16% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 3.9% of the company stock.

On looking further, we found that 51% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in 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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Cogeco Communications

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

Our information suggests that Cogeco Communications Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around CA$11m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 36% stake in Cogeco Communications. 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 Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 28%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Cogeco Communications you should know about.

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.