Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after Akebia Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AKBA) market cap dropped by US$50m

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Akebia Therapeutics indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 37% ownership
• 43% of Akebia Therapeutics is held by Institutions

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If you want to know who really controls Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 55% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While institutions who own 43% came under pressure after market cap dropped to US$795m last week,retail investors took the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Akebia Therapeutics.

View our latest analysis for Akebia Therapeutics

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Akebia Therapeutics?

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 Akebia Therapeutics. 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. 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 Akebia Therapeutics' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Akebia Therapeutics. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 6.9% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.0% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that John Butler, the CEO has 0.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 Akebia Therapeutics

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Akebia Therapeutics, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$795m, and insiders have US$16m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 55% of Akebia Therapeutics. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Akebia Therapeutics better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Akebia Therapeutics 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.