Exscientia plc's (NASDAQ:EXAI) market cap dropped US$139m last week; individual investors who hold 48% were hit as were institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Exscientia indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 16 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 16% of Exscientia

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Exscientia plc (NASDAQ:EXAI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 48% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 16% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 26% stock also took a hit.

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

View our latest analysis for Exscientia

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Exscientia?

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.

Exscientia 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Exscientia's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Exscientia is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Andrew Hopkins, with ownership of 15%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 11% and 4.5% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Exscientia

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. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Exscientia plc. Insiders own US$117m worth of shares in the US$751m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 48% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Exscientia. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 11% of Exscientia. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 Exscientia (including 1 which is significant) .

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.