Alibaba Pictures Group Limited's (HKG:1060) biggest owners are public companies who got richer after stock soared 13% last week

Key Insights

• Alibaba Pictures Group's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Alibaba Group Holding Limited with a 54% stake
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

Every investor in Alibaba Pictures Group Limited (HKG:1060) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is public companies. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, public companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 13% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Alibaba Pictures Group.

View our latest analysis for Alibaba Pictures Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Alibaba Pictures Group?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Alibaba Pictures Group. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Alibaba Pictures Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Alibaba Pictures Group. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 54% 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 1.8% and 1.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Zhejiang Zhongcai Merchants Investment Group Co. Ltd are the second and third largest shareholders.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Alibaba Pictures Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 information suggests that Alibaba Pictures Group Limited insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate 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$64m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 33% stake in Alibaba Pictures Group. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 6.4%, of the Alibaba Pictures Group stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 54% of the Alibaba Pictures Group shares on issue. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Alibaba Pictures Group .

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.