Recent uptick might appease enGene Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ENGN) institutional owners after losing 4.2% over the past year

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies enGene Holdings' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 53% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• Recent purchases by insiders

If you want to know who really controls enGene Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ENGN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 47% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would probably welcome last week's 14% increase in the share price after a year of 4.2% losses as a sign that returns may to begin trending higher.

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

Check out our latest analysis for enGene Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About enGene Holdings?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

enGene Holdings already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 enGene Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in enGene Holdings. Forbion Capital Partners B.V. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

We also observed that the top 8 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.

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

Insider Ownership Of enGene Holdings

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

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 information suggests that enGene Holdings Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It appears that the board holds about US$1.7m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of US$423m. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over enGene Holdings. 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

Private equity firms hold a 39% stake in enGene Holdings. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand enGene Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with enGene Holdings (including 2 which are significant) .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.