Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Sun Hung Kai Properties indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 19% of Sun Hung Kai Properties is held by Institutions

Every investor in Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (HKG:16) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 43% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by HK$5.9b.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sun Hung Kai Properties.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sun Hung Kai Properties?

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.

Sun Hung Kai Properties already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Sun Hung Kai Properties' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Sun Hung Kai Properties. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Bertana Limited with 8.4% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Adolfa Limited and Cyric Limited, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 8.4%. In addition, we found that Ping-Luen Kwok, the CEO has 2.5% of the shares allocated to their name.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Sun Hung Kai Properties

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited. It is a very large company, and board members collectively own HK$7.3b worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows a good alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 35% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sun Hung Kai Properties. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 43%, of the Sun Hung Kai Properties 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:

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 1 warning sign for Sun Hung Kai Properties that you should be aware of before investing here.

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. 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com