Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Coda Octopus Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• The top 6 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Coda Octopus Group is 26%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Coda Octopus Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CODA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 45% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Coda Octopus Group regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Coda Octopus Group.

View our latest analysis for Coda Octopus Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coda Octopus Group?

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 Coda Octopus Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Coda Octopus Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Coda Octopus Group. The company's largest shareholder is Niels Sondergaard, with ownership of 20%. With 9.6% and 7.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Bryan Ezralow and J Emerson are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO Annmarie Gayle is the owner of 1.1% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 6 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.

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. 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 Coda Octopus Group

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Coda Octopus Group, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$101m, and insiders have US$45m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 30% stake in Coda Octopus Group. 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.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.