Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Wing Tai Holdings indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership

• Insiders own 11% of Wing Tai Holdings

If you want to know who really controls Wing Tai Holdings Limited (SGX:W05), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 51% to be precise, is private companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 29% of the company’s shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Wing Tai Holdings, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Wing Tai Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wing Tai Holdings?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that Wing Tai Holdings 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 Wing Tai Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Wing Tai Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. Wing Tai Asia Holdings Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 29% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 12% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 10% by the third-largest shareholder. Wai Keung Cheng, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Wing Tai Holdings

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.

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 Wing Tai Holdings Limited. Insiders have a S$121m stake in this S$1.1b business. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 29% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 51%, of the Wing Tai Holdings 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Wing Tai Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Wing Tai Holdings (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.

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

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.

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