Significantly high institutional ownership implies Immatics' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
A total of 7 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business
If you want to know who really controls Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ:IMTX), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 47% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Immatics.
NasdaqCM:IMTX Ownership Breakdown September 23rd 2023
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Immatics?
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.
Immatics already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Immatics' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
NasdaqCM:IMTX Earnings and Revenue Growth September 23rd 2023
It looks like hedge funds own 6.8% of Immatics shares. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG is currently the company's largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. Wellington Management Group LLP is the second largest shareholder owning 6.9% of common stock, and Baker Bros. Advisors LP holds about 6.8% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Harpreet Singh, the CEO has 1.1% of the shares allocated to their name.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 7 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of Immatics
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
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.
We can see that insiders own shares in Immatics N.V.. In their own names, insiders own US$52m worth of stock in the US$970m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 17% stake in Immatics. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Private Equity Ownership
With a stake of 24%, private equity firms could influence the Immatics 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:
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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Immatics .
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.
