How Many Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRIS) Shares Do Institutions Own?

The big shareholder groups in Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRIS) have power over the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

Curis has a market capitalization of US$912m, so we would expect some institutional investors to have noticed the stock. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Curis.

Check out our latest analysis for Curis

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Curis?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Curis already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Curis, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 12% of Curis. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 6.5% of shares outstanding. With 5.9% and 5.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, Adage Capital Management, L.P. and Sio Capital Management, LLC are the second and third largest shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Curis

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. 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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Curis, Inc. in their own names. It has a market capitalization of just US$912m, and the board has only US$2.5m worth of shares in their own names. I generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- mostly retail investors -- own 54% of Curis. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 6.5% of Curis stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 6 warning signs for Curis you should be aware of, and 4 of them make us uncomfortable.

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. 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.

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