A look at the shareholders of CM.com N.V. (AMS:CMCOM) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 53% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Even though insiders have sold shares recently, the group owns the most numbers of shares in the company.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of CM.com.
ENXTAM:CMCOM Ownership Breakdown November 6th 2024
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CM.com?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
Less than 5% of CM.com is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.
ENXTAM:CMCOM Earnings and Revenue Growth November 6th 2024
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in CM.com. With a 25% stake, CEO Jeroen van Glabbeek is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 25% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.2% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Gilbert Franciscus Adrianus Gooijers is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.
To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence 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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.
Insider Ownership Of CM.com
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 own more than half of CM.com N.V.. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of €183m, that means they have €98m worth of shares. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
With a 34% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over CM.com. 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
It seems that Private Companies own 8.1%, of the CM.com stock. 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 CM.com better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with CM.com .
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.
