Following recent decline, Wong's International Holdings Limited's (HKG:99) top shareholder CEO Chung Mat Wong sees holdings value drop by 11%

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Wong's International Holdings' growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 63% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in Wong's International Holdings Limited (HKG:99) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 61% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by HK$105m.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Wong's International Holdings.

Check out our latest analysis for Wong's International Holdings

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wong's International 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 many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. 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 Wong's International Holdings, for yourself, below.

Wong's International Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. With a 29% stake, CEO Chung Mat Wong is the largest shareholder. Kong King International Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 18% of common stock, and Chung Yin Wong holds about 16% of the company stock.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 63% stake.

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

Insider Ownership Of Wong's 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. 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 insiders own more than half of Wong's International Holdings Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. That means they own HK$517m worth of shares in the HK$852m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Wong's 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

We can see that Private Companies own 18%, 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:

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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Wong's International Holdings you should know about.

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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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.