Private companies in Intron Technology Holdings Limited (HKG:1760) are its biggest bettors, and their bets paid off as stock gained 13% last week

Key Insights

• Intron Technology Holdings' significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 2 shareholders own 55% of the company
• Insiders own 14% of Intron Technology Holdings

If you want to know who really controls Intron Technology Holdings Limited (HKG:1760), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit HK$1.5b market cap following a 13% gain in the stock.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Intron Technology Holdings

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Intron Technology Holdings?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Intron Technology Holdings, for yourself, below.

Intron Technology Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. Magnate Era Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 48% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Wing Ming Luk and Cheung Ngai Chan, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 6.9%. Note that the second and third-largest shareholders are also Co-Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors, respectively, meaning that the company's top shareholders are insiders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. 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 Intron Technology Holdings

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Intron Technology Holdings Limited. It has a market capitalization of just HK$1.5b, and insiders have HK$209m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 33% stake in Intron Technology Holdings. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 52%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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 Intron Technology Holdings is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is potentially serious...

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.