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Every investor in Compass, Inc. (NYSE:COMP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 36% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 14% increase in share prices after a year of 65% losses as a sign that returns are likely to begin trending higher.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Compass.
View our latest analysis for Compass
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Compass?
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.
We can see that Compass does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Compass' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Compass is not owned by hedge funds. SoftBank Investment Advisers (UK) Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 30% of shares outstanding. With 8.8% and 8.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Robert Reffkin are the second and third largest shareholders. Robert Reffkin, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.
On looking further, we found that 52% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.
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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Compass
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.