Yahoo Finance Institutions own 21% of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CUV) shares but retail investors control 59% of the company
Key Insights
The considerable ownership by retail investors in Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
41% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
To get a sense of who is truly in control of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CUV), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 59% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Meanwhile, institutions make up 21% of the company’s shareholders. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals.
View our latest analysis for Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BNY Asset Management with 7.7% of shares outstanding. With 6.8% and 5.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Philippe Wolgen and Ender I , LLC are the second and third largest shareholders. Philippe Wolgen, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.
Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.
Insider Ownership Of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited. Insiders have a AU$106m stake in this AU$780m business. 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 substantial 59% stake in Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.
Private Company Ownership
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 6.7%, of the company's shares. 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 Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals better, we need to consider many other factors.
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.
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.
