Yahoo Finance The Hour Glass Limited's (SGX:AGS) top owners are private companies with 58% stake, while 17% is held by individual investors
Key Insights
Significant control over Hour Glass by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
The largest shareholder of the company is Tyc Investment Pte Ltd. with a 52% stake
17% of Hour Glass is held by insiders
To get a sense of who is truly in control of The Hour Glass Limited (SGX:AGS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 58% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
And individual investors on the other hand have a 17% ownership in the company.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Hour Glass, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for Hour Glass
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hour Glass?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
We can see that Hour Glass 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. 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 Hour Glass' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Hour Glass. Tyc Investment Pte Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 52% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 10.0% and 5.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Yun Tay and Amstay Pte Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders. Yun Tay, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Top Key Executive. Furthermore, CEO Wee Jin Tay is the owner of 4.1% of the company's shares.
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. 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 Hour Glass
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
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 The Hour Glass Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$1.1b, and insiders have S$180m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 17% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 58%, 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Hour Glass you should be aware of.
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.
