Hyloris Pharmaceuticals SA (EBR:HYL) CEO Stijn Van Rompay's holdings dropped 14% in value as a result of the recent pullback

Key Insights

• Hyloris Pharmaceuticals' significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 2 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls Hyloris Pharmaceuticals SA (EBR:HYL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 57% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And following last week's 14% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Hyloris Pharmaceuticals, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Hyloris Pharmaceuticals

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hyloris Pharmaceuticals?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Hyloris Pharmaceuticals' earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hyloris Pharmaceuticals. The company's CEO Stijn Van Rompay is the largest shareholder with 37% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 14% and 6.2% of the stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Thomas Jacobsen is also Top Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 50% stake.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Hyloris Pharmaceuticals

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Hyloris Pharmaceuticals SA. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. So they have a €80m stake in this €140m business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 43% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Hyloris Pharmaceuticals. 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.

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. Take risks for example - Hyloris Pharmaceuticals has 2 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.

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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.