Hansa Biopharma AB (publ)'s (STO:HNSA) market cap dropped kr415m last week; Individual investors bore the brunt

Key Insights

• Hansa Biopharma's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutions own 16% of Hansa Biopharma

A look at the shareholders of Hansa Biopharma AB (publ) (STO:HNSA) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 40% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to kr1.8b last week, individual investors would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Hansa Biopharma.

See our latest analysis for Hansa Biopharma

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hansa Biopharma?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Hansa Biopharma. 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. 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 Hansa Biopharma's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

It looks like hedge funds own 32% of Hansa Biopharma shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Redmile Group, LLC is currently the largest shareholder, with 19% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 12% and 4.0% of the stock.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Hansa Biopharma

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Hansa Biopharma AB (publ). It has a market capitalization of just kr1.8b, and insiders have kr144m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment, but we usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 40% stake in Hansa Biopharma. 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 Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 4.2%, of the Hansa Biopharma stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hansa Biopharma better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 5 warning signs with Hansa Biopharma (at least 1 which is a bit unpleasant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.