How Much Of Hotel Properties Limited (SGX:H15) Do Insiders Own?

If you want to know who really controls Hotel Properties Limited (SGX:H15), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. Warren Buffett said that he likes "a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people." So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Hotel Properties isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of S$1.6b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. In the chart below, we can see that institutions don't own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Hotel Properties.

Check out our latest analysis for Hotel Properties

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hotel Properties?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Hotel Properties' earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hotel Properties. 68 Holdings Pte. Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 34% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 26% and 23%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Beng Seng Ong, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Hotel Properties

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Hotel Properties Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$1.6b, and insiders have S$506m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. 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

With a 10% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Hotel Properties. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 58%, 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.

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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Hotel Properties (2 are a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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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