Sunpower Group Ltd.'s (SGX:5GD) Top Key Executive Hong Xin Guo is the most upbeat insider, and their holdings increased by 14% last week

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Sunpower Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 60% ownership
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Sunpower Group Ltd. (SGX:5GD), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 61% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit S$223m market cap following a 14% gain in the stock.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Sunpower Group, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Sunpower Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sunpower Group?

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.

Since institutions own only a small portion of Sunpower Group, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But it's clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.

Sunpower Group is not owned by hedge funds. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is Hong Xin Guo (who also holds the title of Top Key Executive) with 19% of shares outstanding. Its usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider play the role of a key stakeholder. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 17% and 13% of the stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Ming Ma is also Chief Executive Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Sunpower 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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Sunpower Group Ltd. stock. This gives them a lot of power. That means they own S$137m worth of shares in the S$223m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 36% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sunpower Group. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sunpower Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Sunpower Group (of which 1 is potentially serious!) 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.