Key Insights
- Prime Medicine's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
- A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
- Insider ownership in Prime Medicine is 15%
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If you want to know who really controls Prime Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRME), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 30% ownership. 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 6.6% price drop, institutions with their 28% holdings also suffered.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Prime Medicine.
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Prime Medicine?
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.
We can see that Prime Medicine does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Prime Medicine's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Prime Medicine. Our data suggests that David Liu, who is also the company's Top Key Executive, holds the most number of shares at 12%. When an insider holds a sizeable amount of a company's stock, investors consider it as a positive sign because it suggests that insiders are willing to have their wealth tied up in the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 11% and 9.6% of the stock.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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 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 Prime Medicine
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.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Prime Medicine, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$960m, and insiders have US$148m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 30% stake in Prime Medicine. 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 20% stake in Prime Medicine. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.
Public Company Ownership
Public companies currently own 6.4% of Prime Medicine stock. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Prime Medicine you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.
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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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.
