Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Lyell Immunopharma's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 53% ownership

A look at the shareholders of Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYEL) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 34% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained US$47m in market cap last week. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 0.7%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Lyell Immunopharma.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Lyell Immunopharma?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Lyell Immunopharma does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Lyell Immunopharma's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Lyell Immunopharma. Arch Venture Partners, L.P. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. Innovative Cellular Therapeutics, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.0% of common stock, and GSK plc holds about 7.1% of the company stock.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 53% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. 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 Lyell Immunopharma

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

We can see that insiders own shares in Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$8.8m worth of stock in the US$370m company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 19%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 14%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 7.4% of Lyell Immunopharma 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Lyell Immunopharma better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Lyell Immunopharma is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those make us uncomfortable...

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.

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.