What Kind Of Investors Own Most Of Next Digital Limited (HKG:282)?

A look at the shareholders of Next Digital Limited (HKG:282) can tell us which group is most powerful. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Warren Buffett said that he likes "a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people." So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Next Digital is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of HK$936m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions are not on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Next Digital.

View our latest analysis for Next Digital

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Next Digital?

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 could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. 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. Next Digital might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Next Digital. Chee Ying Lai is currently the largest shareholder, with 71% 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 0.5% and 0.05% of the shares outstanding respectively, Yut Kin Ip and Tat Kuen Chow are the second and third largest shareholders. Tat Kuen Chow, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Next Digital

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Next Digital Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. So they have a HK$673m stake in this HK$936m business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 28% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Next Digital. 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.

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. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Next Digital (2 are concerning) that you should be aware of.

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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