Key Insights
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Institutions’ substantial holdings in Public Bank Berhad implies that they have significant influence over the company’s share price
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51% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
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Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company
If you want to know who really controls Public Bank Berhad (KLSE:PBBANK), 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 43% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Last week’s 6.6% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. One-year return to shareholders is currently 15% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.
Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Public Bank Berhad.
See our latest analysis for Public Bank Berhad
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Public Bank Berhad?
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 Public Bank Berhad 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 Public Bank Berhad’s earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Hedge funds don’t have many shares in Public Bank Berhad. Our data shows that Consolidated Teh Holdings Sdn Berhad is the largest shareholder with 23% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 16% and 4.1%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
On further inspection, we found that more than half the company’s shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.
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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.
Insider Ownership Of Public Bank Berhad
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Public Bank Berhad. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven’t picked up on. As it is a large company, we’d only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it’s worth noting that they own RM149m worth of shares. Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 32% stake in Public Bank Berhad. 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
We can see that Private Companies own 23%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it’s hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.
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 Public Bank Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
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.
