Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Adaptimmune Therapeutics indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Insiders have been selling lately

A look at the shareholders of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 39% to be precise, is individual investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Following a 19% increase in the stock price last week, individual investors profited the most, but institutions who own 28% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Adaptimmune Therapeutics.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Adaptimmune Therapeutics?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 26% 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 Matrix Capital Management Company, LP with 15% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 6.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We also observed that the top 8 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.

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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc in their own names. It seems the board members have no more than US$2.1m worth of shares in the US$309m company. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 39% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Adaptimmune Therapeutics. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 6.7%, private equity firms could influence the Adaptimmune Therapeutics board. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Adaptimmune Therapeutics (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) you should know about.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.