To get a sense of who is truly in control of Panacea Biotec Limited (NSE:PANACEABIO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 69% to be precise, is individual insiders. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 14% gain.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Panacea Biotec.
View our latest analysis for Panacea Biotec
Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.
There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Panacea Biotec's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Panacea Biotec. With a 49% stake, CEO Rajesh Jain is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 15% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.1% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Sandeep Jain is also Co-Chief Executive Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.
A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 65% stake.
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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.
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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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.
It seems that insiders own more than half the Panacea Biotec Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. That means they own ₹17b worth of shares in the ₹25b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.
With a 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Panacea Biotec. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
We can see that Private Companies own 6.0%, of the shares on issue. 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.
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Panacea Biotec is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
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.