Stock Analysis

What Type Of Shareholders Own The Most Number of Zhong An Group Limited (HKG:672) Shares?

SEHK:672
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The big shareholder groups in Zhong An Group Limited (HKG:672) have power over the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

Zhong An Group is a smaller company with a market capitalization of HK$1.7b, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Zhong An Group.

See our latest analysis for Zhong An Group

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SEHK:672 Ownership Breakdown January 13th 2021

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zhong An Group?

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 Zhong An Group 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 Zhong An Group's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
SEHK:672 Earnings and Revenue Growth January 13th 2021

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Zhong An Group. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Zhong An Group's case, its Top Key Executive, Kancheng Shi, is the largest shareholder, holding 58% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.4% by the third-largest shareholder.

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 Zhong An Group

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Zhong An Group Limited. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means they own HK$1.0b worth of shares in the HK$1.7b company. That's quite meaningful. 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

The general public, with a 32% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Zhong An Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Zhong An Group (including 2 which make us uncomfortable) .

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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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