CuriosityStream Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CURI) stock price dropped 11% last week; individual investors would not be happy

Key Insights

• Significant control over CuriosityStream by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders have been selling lately

If you want to know who really controls CuriosityStream Inc. (NASDAQ:CURI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 47% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While insiders who own 46% came under pressure after market cap dropped to US$100m last week,individual investors took the most losses.

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

Check out our latest analysis for CuriosityStream

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CuriosityStream?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in CuriosityStream. 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 CuriosityStream's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in CuriosityStream. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In CuriosityStream's case, its Top Key Executive, John Hendricks, is the largest shareholder, holding 39% of shares outstanding. With 2.8% and 2.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Jonathan Huberman and Clint Stinchcomb are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Clint Stinchcomb is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of CuriosityStream

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in CuriosityStream Inc.. Insiders own US$46m worth of shares in the US$100m company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 47% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

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. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for CuriosityStream (1 shouldn't be ignored) that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.