Nanobiotix S.A.'s (EPA:NANO) biggest owners are retail investors who got richer after stock soared 11% last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Nanobiotix indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 5 shareholders own 56% of the company
• 20% of Nanobiotix is held by Institutions

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Nanobiotix S.A. (EPA:NANO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 33% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by €16m last week.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Nanobiotix.

View our latest analysis for Nanobiotix

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nanobiotix?

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.

Nanobiotix already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Nanobiotix, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Nanobiotix. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Artal Group S.A. with 14% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 12% of the shares outstanding respectively, Goldman Sachs Group, Investment Banking and Securities Investments and Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Laurent Levy, the CEO has 2.4% of the shares allocated to their name.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 56% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Nanobiotix

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 report that insiders do own shares in Nanobiotix S.A.. It has a market capitalization of just €160m, and insiders have €4.3m worth of shares, in their own names. 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-- including retail investors -- own 33% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 26%, 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 8.1%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Nanobiotix (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .

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.

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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.