Is Top Spring International Holdings Limited's (HKG:3688) Shareholder Ownership Skewed Towards Insiders?

Every investor in Top Spring International Holdings Limited (HKG:3688) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. 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.

Top Spring International Holdings is a smaller company with a market capitalization of HK$1.8b, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions are not on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about Top Spring International Holdings.

See our latest analysis for Top Spring International Holdings

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Top Spring International Holdings?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

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. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Top Spring International Holdings, for yourself, below.

Top Spring International Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. The company's CEO Chun Hong Wong is the largest shareholder with 28% of shares outstanding. With 26% and 15% of the shares outstanding respectively, Yunnan Health&Cultural Tourism Holding Group Co., Ltd. and Metro Holdings Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 54% stake.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Top Spring International 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 maintain a significant holding in Top Spring International Holdings Limited. Insiders own HK$496m worth of shares in the HK$1.8b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 31% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Top Spring International Holdings. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 26%, of the company's shares. 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 15% of the Top Spring International Holdings shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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 be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Top Spring International Holdings .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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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