Key Insights

• Adaptimmune Therapeutics' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 25 shareholders own 49% of the company
• Insiders have been selling lately

Every investor in Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 50% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And hedge funds on the other hand have a 25% ownership in the company.

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

See our latest analysis for Adaptimmune Therapeutics

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Adaptimmune Therapeutics?

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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics. 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. 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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 25% of Adaptimmune Therapeutics. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is EcoR1 Capital, LLC with 11% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.0% and 6.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc. It seems the board members have no more than US$1.1m worth of shares in the US$138m company. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 50% stake in Adaptimmune Therapeutics, 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 6.7%, private equity firms could influence the Adaptimmune Therapeutics board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Adaptimmune Therapeutics better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Adaptimmune Therapeutics that you should be aware of.

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.