What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Cyclerion Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CYCN) Shares?

A look at the shareholders of Cyclerion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYCN) can tell us which group is most powerful. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

With a market capitalization of US$106m, Cyclerion Therapeutics is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Cyclerion Therapeutics.

View our latest analysis for Cyclerion Therapeutics

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Cyclerion 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 Cyclerion Therapeutics. 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 Cyclerion Therapeutics, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It looks like hedge funds own 33% of Cyclerion Therapeutics shares. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Slate Path Capital LP is currently the largest shareholder, with 18% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are EcoR1 Capital, LLC and FMR LLC, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 8.1%. Furthermore, CEO Peter Hecht is the owner of 0.7% of the company's shares.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 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 some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Cyclerion Therapeutics

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Cyclerion Therapeutics, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$2.9m worth of stock in the US$106m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but I usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 18% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Cyclerion Therapeutics. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 5.4%, private equity firms could influence the Cyclerion Therapeutics board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Cyclerion Therapeutics is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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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