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Genscript Biotech Corporation's (HKG:1548) largest shareholders are retail investors who were rewarded as market cap surged HK$1.6b last week

Simply Wall St · 6d ago

Key Insights

  • The considerable ownership by retail investors in Genscript Biotech indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
  • A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 46% ownership
  • Insiders have been selling lately

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Genscript Biotech Corporation (HKG:1548), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 53% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, retail investors collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit HK$29b market cap following a 6.0% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Genscript Biotech

ownership-breakdown
SEHK:1548 Ownership Breakdown January 7th 2026

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Genscript Biotech?

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.

Genscript Biotech already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Genscript Biotech's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
SEHK:1548 Earnings and Revenue Growth January 7th 2026

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Genscript Biotech. GenScript Corporation is currently the company's largest shareholder with 37% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 2.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.1% by the third-largest shareholder.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 Genscript Biotech

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. 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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Genscript Biotech Corporation in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around HK$62m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 53% stake in Genscript Biotech, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 37%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Genscript Biotech , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.