Monopar Therapeutics Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MNPR) 19% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 33% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over Monopar Therapeutics by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 5 investors have a majority stake in the company with 56% ownership
• 24% of Monopar Therapeutics is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MNPR) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 33% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 19% price drop, institutions with their 24% holdings also suffered.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Monopar Therapeutics, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Monopar Therapeutics

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Monopar Therapeutics?

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.

Monopar Therapeutics already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Monopar Therapeutics' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

It looks like hedge funds own 9.8% of Monopar Therapeutics shares. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Janus Henderson Group plc is currently the largest shareholder, with 17% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 14% and 9.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO Chandler Robinson directly holds 1.0% of the total shares outstanding.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 5 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Monopar Therapeutics

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

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 Monopar Therapeutics Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$8.3m worth of stock in the US$189m company. 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

With a 33% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Monopar 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

Private equity firms hold a 8.4% stake in Monopar Therapeutics. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 14%, of the Monopar Therapeutics stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 6.4% of Monopar Therapeutics stock. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Monopar Therapeutics you should be aware of.

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.