While institutions invested in ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Inc. (HKG:1541) benefited from last week's 10% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 9 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Insiders have been buying lately

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If you want to know who really controls ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Inc. (HKG:1541), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 49% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched HK$2.8b last week, while institutions who own 17% also benefitted.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai), beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai)?

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.

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

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai). With a 16% stake, CEO Wenzhi Tian is the largest shareholder. With 11% and 7.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Inc. , ESOP and Shanghai Yongkan Investment Management Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

We did some more digging and found that 9 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai)

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

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Inc.. Insiders have a HK$461m stake in this HK$2.8b business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 49% stake in the company, and hence can't 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 7.1%, private equity firms could influence the ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.