Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• Insiders have sold recently

Every investor in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 70% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, institutional investors endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by US$93m. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 42% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Institutions or "liquidity providers" control large sums of money and therefore, these types of investors usually have a lot of influence over stock price movements. As a result, if the downtrend continues, institutions may face pressures to sell Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, which might have negative implications on individual investors.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals.

Check out our latest analysis for Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Arrowhead 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.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. It would appear that 9.5% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares are controlled by hedge funds. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 9.5% by the third-largest shareholder. Additionally, the company's CEO Christopher Anzalone directly holds 3.0% of the total shares outstanding.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Arrowhead 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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth US$100m. Most would see this as a real positive. If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 16% stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals you should be aware of.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.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.