ABIVAX Société Anonyme's (EPA:ABVX) market cap touched €399m last week, benefiting both private equity firms who own 48% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• ABIVAX Société Anonyme's significant private equity firms ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 51% of the business is held by the top 7 shareholders
• Institutions own 30% of ABIVAX Société Anonyme

To get a sense of who is truly in control of ABIVAX Société Anonyme (EPA:ABVX), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that private equity firms own the lion's share in the company with 48% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While private equity firms were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s €39m market cap gain, institutions too had a 30% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of ABIVAX Société Anonyme, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for ABIVAX Société Anonyme

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ABIVAX Société Anonyme?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that ABIVAX Société Anonyme does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 ABIVAX Société Anonyme's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in ABIVAX Société Anonyme. Artal Group S.A. is currently the largest shareholder, with 10% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 8.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

We also observed that the top 7 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 ABIVAX Société Anonyme

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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in ABIVAX Société Anonyme. It has a market capitalization of just €399m, and insiders have €14m worth of shares, in their own names. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. 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 17% stake in ABIVAX Société Anonyme. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 48%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with ABIVAX Société Anonyme .

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.