Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Agenus' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 19 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders have bought recently

Every investor in Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 45% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 67% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 72%.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Agenus?

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.

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

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 6.7% of Agenus. 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. The company's largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc., with ownership of 7.7%. With 7.6% and 7.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Deep Track Capital, LP and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. Additionally, the company's CEO Garo Armen directly holds 0.6% of the total shares outstanding.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 19 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 Agenus

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

We can see that insiders own shares in Agenus Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$2.1m worth of the US$174m 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 40% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Agenus. 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 7.6% stake in Agenus. 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:

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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 5 warning signs with Agenus (at least 2 which are a bit unpleasant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.