What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Hailan Holdings Limited's (HKG:2278) Shares?

If you want to know who really controls Hailan Holdings Limited (HKG:2278), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

With a market capitalization of HK$1.4b, Hailan Holdings is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions don't own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Hailan Holdings.

See our latest analysis for Hailan Holdings

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hailan Holdings?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Hailan Holdings 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 Hailan Holdings. Our data shows that Man Yeung is the largest shareholder with 75% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company.

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. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Hailan Holdings

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 insiders own more than half of Hailan Holdings Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. So they have a HK$1.1b stake in this HK$1.4b business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Hailan Holdings. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Hailan Holdings (including 2 which are potentially serious) .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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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