BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited's (HKG:2388) top owners are public companies with 66% stake, while 25% is held by individual investors

Key Insights

• Significant control over BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Bank of China Limited owns 66% of the company
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

Every investor in BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited (HKG:2388) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 66% to be precise, is public companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 25% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings), beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for BOC Hong Kong (Holdings)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About BOC Hong Kong (Holdings)?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in BOC Hong Kong (Holdings). This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 BOC Hong Kong (Holdings)'s historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in BOC Hong Kong (Holdings). Bank of China Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 66% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. With 1.3% and 1.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 BOC Hong Kong (Holdings)

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited in their own names. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own HK$753k of stock. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 25% stake in BOC Hong Kong (Holdings). 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

Public companies currently own 66% of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) stock. 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 BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.

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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.