Key Insights

• Significant insider control over NagaCorp implies vested interests in company growth
• The largest shareholder of the company is Lip Keong Chen with a 66% stake
• Ownership research along with analyst forecasts data help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

A look at the shareholders of NagaCorp Ltd. (HKG:3918) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 66% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 3.5% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about NagaCorp.

View our latest analysis for NagaCorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About NagaCorp?

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 NagaCorp does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 NagaCorp's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in NagaCorp. The company's CEO Lip Keong Chen is the largest shareholder with 66% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's 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 with such skin in the game. Lipkco EnterprisesLimited is the second largest shareholder owning 3.7% of common stock, and Federated Hermes, Inc. holds about 1.3% of the company stock.

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 NagaCorp

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of NagaCorp Ltd.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. Given it has a market cap of HK$15b, that means insiders have a whopping HK$9.5b worth of shares in their own names. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if they have been selling down their stake.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 25% stake in NagaCorp. 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 3.7%, 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.