Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Altimmune implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• The top 15 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

A look at the shareholders of Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 44% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Altimmune

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Altimmune?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Altimmune. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Altimmune, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It would appear that 8.0% of Altimmune shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC is currently the largest shareholder, with 7.8% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.5% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 6.6% of the company stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Vipin Garg directly holds 0.5% of the total shares outstanding.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 15 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Altimmune

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 less than 1% of Altimmune, Inc.. It appears that the board holds about US$4.9m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of US$628m. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 24% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Altimmune. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Be aware that Altimmune is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those are a bit unpleasant...

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.

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.