Private companies are AIM Vaccine Co., Ltd.'s (HKG:6660) biggest owners and were hit after market cap dropped HK$400m

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in AIM Vaccine indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 6 shareholders own 53% of the company
• Insider ownership in AIM Vaccine is 28%

A look at the shareholders of AIM Vaccine Co., Ltd. (HKG:6660) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 38% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to HK$6.6b last week, private companies would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of AIM Vaccine.

See our latest analysis for AIM Vaccine

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About AIM Vaccine?

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.

We can see that AIM Vaccine does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at AIM Vaccine's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

AIM Vaccine is not owned by hedge funds. The company's CEO Yan Zhou is the largest shareholder with 17% of shares outstanding. Tibet Sincere Heart Enterprise Management Co., Ltd is the second largest shareholder owning 17% of common stock, and Tibet Yingfeng Industrial Co., Ltd. holds about 8.1% of the company stock.

We also observed that the top 6 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of AIM Vaccine

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of AIM Vaccine Co., Ltd.. Insiders own HK$1.9b worth of shares in the HK$6.6b company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 28% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 38%, of the company's shares. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand AIM Vaccine better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for AIM Vaccine you should know about.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.