What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc's (NASDAQ:ADAP) Shares?

If you want to know who really controls Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of US$1.3b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Adaptimmune Therapeutics.

See our latest analysis for Adaptimmune Therapeutics

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Adaptimmune 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.

We can see that Adaptimmune Therapeutics does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 32% 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. Matrix Capital Management Company, LLC is currently the company's largest shareholder with 25% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 8.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 51% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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 an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around US$57m worth of shares (at current prices). 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, with a 11% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 19%, 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. For example, we've discovered 6 warning signs for Adaptimmune Therapeutics (1 is potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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