State Street Just Bought Ocugen (OCGN) Stock. Here’s Why.

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Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN) has had a rough week. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Health Administration (FDA) announced that it had placed a clinical hold on the Phase 2/3 study of Covaxin, the company’s coronavirus vaccine candidate. The decision to place the hold was enacted because the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that the manufacturing facility for Covaxin had “deficiencies in good manufacturing practices (GMP),” as well as several other problems. As a result, shares of OCGN stock are down over 5% this week. However, a financial firm with over $2 trillion in assets under management remains bullish on the biopharmaceutical company, as evidenced by its recent purchase.

Smartphone with logo of US biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc (OCGN) on screen in front of website Focus on left of phone display
Source: Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock.com

State Street Buys OCGN Stock

According to a 13G filing received on April 11, State Street (NYSE:STT) owns 29.15 million shares of Ocugen. That’s more than double the shares owned when the firm last reported a 14 million share stake in February. As of now, State Street owns a 13.57% passive stake in Ocugen, qualifying them as an insider of the company. Following the purchase, State Street is now the largest shareholder of Ocugen.

Furthermore, State Street has an average holding period 34.06 quarters, or eight and a half years, for stocks in its portfolio. This suggests that the firm plans on holding Ocugen for the long run.

So, why exactly did State Street purchase OCGN stock? Institutional investors are not required to disclose their reasoning for purchases and sales. However, Ocugen has declined by about 40% year-to-date (YTD) and is down more than 90% in the past five years. Investors may have capitulated out of their Ocugen position, but State Street certainly hasn’t.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the largest institutional shareholders of Ocugen.

Who Else Is Betting Big on Ocugen?

Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for funds. According to WhaleWisdom, which tracks all 13F filers, 119 funds own Ocugen as of Q4, an increase of six funds from Q3. Additionally, 33 funds reported initiating a new position, while 27 funds closed out their position. Finally, the company has an institutional put/call ratio of 1.13, indicating that funds in aggregate own more put options against Ocugen than call options. With that said, let’s go over the five largest shareholders of Ocugen:

  1. State Street: 29.15 million shares, or 13.57% ownership
  2. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 12.93 million shares, or 6.48% ownership.
  3. Vanguard Group: 10.6 million shares, or 5.31% ownership.
  4. JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM): 3.32 million shares, or 1.66% ownership.
  5. Geode Capital Management: 3.27 million shares, or 1.64% ownership.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/04/state-street-just-bought-ocugen-ocgn-stock-heres-why/.

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