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. With 51% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Meanwhile, individual investors make up 30% of the company’s shareholders.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of 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 can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Wing Tai Holdings' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
SGX:W05 Earnings and Revenue Growth March 18th 2025
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Wing Tai Holdings. The company's largest shareholder is Wing Tai Asia Holdings Ltd, with ownership of 29%. With 12% and 11% of the shares outstanding respectively, Empire Gate Holdings Ltd. and Wai Keung Cheng are the second and third largest shareholders. 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 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 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.
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 insiders own a significant proportion of Wing Tai Holdings Limited. Insiders have a S$108m stake in this S$893m 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
With a 30% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Wing Tai Holdings. 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 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:
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 Wing Tai Holdings that you should be aware of before investing here.
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.
