Retail investors account for 43% of Molecular Partners AG's (VTX:MOLN) ownership, while hedge funds account for 33%

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Fri, Dec 22, 2023, 12:22 AM 4 min read

If you want to know who really controls Molecular Partners AG (VTX:MOLN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 43% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Hedge funds, on the other hand, account for 33% of the company's stockholders.

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

See our latest analysis for Molecular Partners

ownership-breakdown — SWX:MOLN Ownership Breakdown December 22nd 2023

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Molecular Partners?

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.

We can see that Molecular Partners 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Molecular Partners' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — SWX:MOLN Earnings and Revenue Growth December 22nd 2023

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 33% of Molecular Partners. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. BVF Partners L.P. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 26% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.5% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.3% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO Patrick Amstutz is the owner of 2.1% of the company's shares.

We also observed that the top 8 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Molecular Partners

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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Molecular Partners AG. It has a market capitalization of just CHF124m, and insiders have CHF6.6m worth of shares, in their own names. 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 43% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Molecular Partners. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 5.3% of Molecular Partners. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Molecular Partners better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Molecular Partners (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.