Hongkong Land Holdings Limited's (SGX:H78) market cap surged US$397m last week, public companies who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• Hongkong Land Holdings' significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited with a 53% stake
• Institutions own 13% of Hongkong Land Holdings

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Hongkong Land Holdings Limited (SGX:H78), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 53% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, public companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit US$10b market cap following a 4.0% gain in the stock.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Hongkong Land Holdings.

Check out our latest analysis for Hongkong Land Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hongkong Land Holdings?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Hongkong Land Holdings. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Hongkong Land Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Hongkong Land Holdings. Our data shows that Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited is the largest shareholder with 53% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 2.8% and 2.2%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Hongkong Land 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.

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.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Hongkong Land Holdings Limited in their own names. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own US$9.1m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 34% stake in Hongkong Land Holdings. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 53% of Hongkong Land Holdings stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hongkong Land Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Hongkong Land Holdings is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.