Retail investors invested in Coloplast A/S (CPH:COLO B) copped the brunt of last week's kr.5.3b market cap decline

Key Insights

• Significant control over Coloplast by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders own 25% of Coloplast

Every investor in Coloplast A/S (CPH:COLO B) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 43% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While insiders, who own 25% shares weren’t spared from last week’s kr.5.3b market cap drop, retail investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Coloplast.

Check out our latest analysis for Coloplast

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coloplast?

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.

Coloplast already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Coloplast's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Coloplast is not owned by hedge funds. Niels Louis-Hansen is currently the company's largest shareholder with 21% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 3.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Aage Og Johanne Louis-Hansen A/S and Benedicte Find are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Coloplast A/S. Insiders own kr.42b worth of shares in the kr.170b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 12%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Be aware that Coloplast is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.