Sino Land Company Limited's (HKG:83) last week's 3.0% decline must have disappointed public companies who have a significant stake

Key Insights

• Significant control over Sino Land by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 56% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Tsim Sha Tsui Properties Limited)
• Recent purchases by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Sino Land Company Limited (HKG:83), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 56% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 3.0% decline in share price, public companies suffered the most losses.

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

View our latest analysis for Sino Land

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sino Land?

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 Sino Land 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. 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 Sino Land's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sino Land. Our data shows that Tsim Sha Tsui Properties Limited is the largest shareholder with 56% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 2.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.0% by the third-largest shareholder. Chee Siong Ng, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

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

Insider Ownership Of Sino Land

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Sino Land Company Limited. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own HK$1.7b worth of shares (at current prices). we sometimes take an interest in whether they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 32% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sino Land. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 56% of the Sino Land shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Sino Land (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.