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What Kind Of Shareholders Own Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc (CVE:AQS)?

A look at the shareholders of Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc (CVE:AQS) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, ‘Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.’

Aequus Pharmaceuticals is a smaller company with a market capitalization of CA$16m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have not yet purchased shares. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about AQS.

Check out our latest analysis for Aequus Pharmaceuticals

TSXV:AQS Ownership Summary November 16th 18
TSXV:AQS Ownership Summary November 16th 18

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Aequus Pharmaceuticals?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it’s unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

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There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don’t attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Aequus Pharmaceuticals’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.

TSXV:AQS Income Statement Export November 16th 18
TSXV:AQS Income Statement Export November 16th 18

Aequus Pharmaceuticals is not owned by hedge funds. We’re not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Aequus Pharmaceuticals

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

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. It has a market capitalization of just CA$16m, and insiders have CA$3.2m worth of shares in their own names. I would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are mostly retail investors, collectively hold 79% of Aequus Pharmaceuticals shares. This size of ownership gives retail investors collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It’s always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Aequus Pharmaceuticals better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.