Yahoo Finance 
Yahoo Finance Plus retail investors who own 36% along with institutions invested in GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLYC) saw increase in their holdings value last week
Key Insights
The considerable ownership by retail investors in GlycoMimetics indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
52% of the business is held by the top 7 shareholders
If you want to know who really controls GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLYC), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 36% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Following a 41% increase in the stock price last week, retail investors profited the most, but institutions who own 25% stock also stood to gain from the increase.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about GlycoMimetics.
View our latest analysis for GlycoMimetics
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About GlycoMimetics?
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 GlycoMimetics 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at GlycoMimetics' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
It looks like hedge funds own 15% of GlycoMimetics 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. BVF Partners L.P. is currently the largest shareholder, with 15% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 13% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.7% by the third-largest shareholder.
We did some more digging and found that 7 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.
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 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 GlycoMimetics
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.
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.
We can see that insiders own shares in GlycoMimetics, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$3.8m worth of stock in the US$134m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though we generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 36% stake in GlycoMimetics. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
Private Equity Ownership
With an ownership of 21%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. 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:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand GlycoMimetics better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for GlycoMimetics (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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
