Individual investors own 21% of Haitian International Holdings Limited (HKG:1882) shares but private companies control 42% of the company

Key Insights

• Significant control over Haitian International Holdings by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 60% ownership
• Institutions own 18% of Haitian International Holdings

If you want to know who really controls Haitian International Holdings Limited (HKG:1882), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 42% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors, on the other hand, account for 21% of the company's stockholders.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Haitian International Holdings.

Check out our latest analysis for Haitian International Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Haitian International Holdings?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Haitian International Holdings 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 Haitian International Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Haitian International Holdings. The company's largest shareholder is Sky Treasure Capital Limited, with ownership of 27%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 18% and 15%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 60% stake.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Haitian International 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.

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 Haitian International Holdings Limited in their own names. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around HK$200m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Haitian International 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 Equity Ownership

With a stake of 18%, private equity firms could influence the Haitian International Holdings board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 42%, of the Haitian International Holdings stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.

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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.