Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Meta Bright Group Berhad's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership

• The largest shareholder of the company is Wai Lee with a 55% stake

• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Meta Bright Group Berhad (KLSE:MBRIGHT), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 81% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 14% gain.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Meta Bright Group Berhad

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Meta Bright Group Berhad?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Meta Bright Group Berhad might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Meta Bright Group Berhad. From our data, we infer that the largest shareholder is Wai Lee (who also holds the title of Senior Key Executive) with 55% of shares outstanding. Its 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 play the role of a key stakeholder. Chee Lee is the second largest shareholder owning 4.0% of common stock, and May Ling Leong holds about 3.3% of the company stock. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Chee Lee is also Chief Executive Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Meta Bright Group Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Meta Bright Group Berhad stock. This gives them a lot of power. That means they own RM470m worth of shares in the RM581m company. That's quite meaningful. 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 16% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Meta Bright Group Berhad. 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.

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. Take risks for example - Meta Bright Group Berhad has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.