Individual investors among Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals Inc.'s (SHSE:688319) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 9.9% price drop

Key Insights

• Significant control over Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insider ownership in Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals is 25%

A look at the shareholders of Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (SHSE:688319) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 42% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While insiders who own 25% came under pressure after market cap dropped to CN¥4.3b last week,individual investors took the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals.

View our latest analysis for Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals?

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 Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals. Chongqing Wushan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 18% of shares outstanding. Fan Fan is the second largest shareholder owning 7.5% of common stock, and Pengfei Zhang holds about 6.4% of the company stock. Pengfei Zhang, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of Corporate Board. Additionally, the company's CEO Shaowen Fan directly holds 3.9% of the total shares outstanding.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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

Insider Ownership Of Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals Inc.. Insiders own CN¥1.1b worth of shares in the CN¥4.3b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 42% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Chengdu Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 21%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.