After the recent decline, Hans Energy Company Limited (HKG:554) Top Key Executive David An's holdings have lost 13% of their value

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Hans Energy's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• The largest shareholder of the company is David An with a 71% stake
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in Hans Energy Company Limited (HKG:554) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 71% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And following last week's 13% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Hans Energy, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Hans Energy

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hans Energy?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

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. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. 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 Hans Energy, for yourself, below.

Hans Energy is not owned by hedge funds. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is David An (who also holds the title of Top Key Executive) with 71% of shares outstanding. Its usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider play the role of a key stakeholder.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Hans Energy

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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Hans Energy Company Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. Given it has a market cap of HK$1.2b, that means they have HK$858m worth of shares. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 29% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Hans Energy that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.