What Kind Of Shareholders Hold The Majority In Comfort Gloves Berhad's (KLSE:COMFORT) Shares?

Every investor in Comfort Gloves Berhad (KLSE:COMFORT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. 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.

Comfort Gloves Berhad is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of RM1.2b, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Comfort Gloves Berhad.

See our latest analysis for Comfort Gloves Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Comfort Gloves Berhad?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Comfort Gloves Berhad does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Comfort Gloves Berhad's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Comfort Gloves Berhad is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Keen Setup Sdn. Bhd. with 14% of shares outstanding. Phoy Cheang is the second largest shareholder owning 9.7% of common stock, and Eng Lau holds about 8.6% of the company stock. Note that the second and third-largest shareholders are also Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, respectively, meaning that the company's top shareholders are insiders.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Comfort Gloves Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 a reasonable proportion of Comfort Gloves Berhad. It has a market capitalization of just RM1.2b, and insiders have RM328m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 43% stake in Comfort Gloves Berhad. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 22%, of the Comfort Gloves Berhad stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Comfort Gloves Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Comfort Gloves Berhad .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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. 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.
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