Every investor in Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IKT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that hedge funds own the lion's share in the company with 31% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
And so it follows that hedge funds investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$162m last week after a 17% drop in the share price. The recent loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 10% for stockholders, may not sit well with this group of investors. Hedge funds are often aggressively managed, usually with the goal of focusing on short-term profits. Given their high ownership in Inhibikase Therapeutics, they wield significant power and continued under performance can lead to them influencing management decisions which might not be evaluating the company’s long-term prospects.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Inhibikase Therapeutics.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Inhibikase Therapeutics?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Inhibikase 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. 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 Inhibikase Therapeutics, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
NasdaqCM:IKT Earnings and Revenue Growth April 4th 2025
Our data indicates that hedge funds own 31% of Inhibikase 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 Sands Capital Ventures, LLC with 15% of shares outstanding. With 8.5% and 8.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Soleus Capital Management, L.P. and Fairmount Funds Management LLC are the second and third largest shareholders.
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 are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.
Insider Ownership Of Inhibikase Therapeutics
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$6.2m worth of stock in the US$162m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
With a 14% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Inhibikase 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
Private equity firms hold a 23% stake in Inhibikase Therapeutics. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. 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.
Private Company Ownership
We can see that Private Companies own 7.9%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Inhibikase Therapeutics better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Inhibikase Therapeutics (of which 2 don't sit too well with us!) you should know about.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this freereport 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.
