Institutional investors may adopt severe steps after Agenus Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AGEN) latest 16% drop adds to a year losses
Key Insights
Significantly high institutional ownership implies Agenus' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
A total of 20 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
A look at the shareholders of Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 49% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And so it follows that institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$244m last week after a 16% drop in the share price. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 78% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Often called “market movers", institutions wield significant power in influencing the price dynamics of any stock. Hence, if weakness in Agenus' share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Agenus, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Agenus
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Agenus?
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.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Agenus. 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 Agenus' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Agenus is not owned by hedge funds. Deep Track Capital, LP is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.3% of shares outstanding. With 7.4% and 7.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Garo Armen, the CEO has 0.5% of the shares allocated to their name.
Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 20 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.
While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Agenus
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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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.
We can see that insiders own shares in Agenus Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$244m, and insiders have US$2.9m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.
General Public Ownership
With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Agenus. 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 8.3%, private equity firms could influence the Agenus 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:
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. Case in point: We've spotted 5 warning signs for Agenus you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report 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.
