Could Paladin Limited's (HKG:495) Investor Composition Influence The Stock Price?

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If you want to know who really controls Paladin Limited (HKG:495), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

Paladin is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of HK$201m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutional investors have not yet purchased shares. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about 495.

View our latest analysis for Paladin

SEHK:495 Ownership Summary, November 5th 2019
SEHK:495 Ownership Summary, November 5th 2019

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Paladin?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Paladin, for yourself, below.

SEHK:495 Income Statement, November 5th 2019
SEHK:495 Income Statement, November 5th 2019

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Paladin. 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 Paladin

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 Paladin Limited. Insiders own HK$84m worth of shares in the HK$201m company. I 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.