While institutions invested in CoreCard Corporation (NYSE:CCRD) benefited from last week's 12% gain, retail investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• Significant control over CoreCard by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 10 shareholders
• 27% of CoreCard is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls CoreCard Corporation (NYSE:CCRD), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 37% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While retail investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week’s 12% price gain, institutions also received a 36% cut.

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

Check out our latest analysis for CoreCard

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CoreCard?

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.

We can see that CoreCard does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 CoreCard's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in CoreCard. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO James Strange with 16% of shares outstanding. With 10% and 6.4% of the shares outstanding respectively, Clifford Burnstein and Weitz Investment Management, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of CoreCard

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of CoreCard Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just US$114m, and insiders have US$31m worth of shares in their own names. 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 37% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with CoreCard , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.