Individual investors are Coloplast A/S' (CPH:COLO B) biggest owners and were hit after market cap dropped kr.8.9b

Key Insights

• Significant control over Coloplast by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 20 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Coloplast is 24%

A look at the shareholders of Coloplast A/S (CPH:COLO B) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 40% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And last week, individual investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 5.1%.

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

See our latest analysis for Coloplast

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coloplast?

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 Coloplast. 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. 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 Coloplast's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Coloplast. Coloplast Holding Aps is currently the company's largest shareholder with 30% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 20 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 Coloplast

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.

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 Coloplast A/S. Insiders own kr.9.3b worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 40% stake in Coloplast. 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 31%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Coloplast better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Coloplast has 2 warning signs 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.