Private companies are Yuexiu Property Company Limited's (HKG:123) biggest owners and were hit after market cap dropped HK$2.7b

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Yuexiu Property indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Recent purchases by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Yuexiu Property Company Limited (HKG:123) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 43% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by HK$2.7b.

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

See our latest analysis for Yuexiu Property

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yuexiu Property?

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.

We can see that Yuexiu Property does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Yuexiu Property's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Yuexiu Property. The company's largest shareholder is Guangzhou Yuexiu Group Co., Ltd., with ownership of 35%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.1% by the third-largest shareholder.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Yuexiu Property

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 information suggests that Yuexiu Property Company 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. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own HK$28m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in Yuexiu Property. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 43%, of the shares on issue. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Yuexiu Property better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Yuexiu Property (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.

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.