Could Anacle Systems Limited’s (HKG:8353) Investor Composition Impacts Your Returns?

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Every investor in Anacle Systems Limited (HKG:8353) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Warren Buffett said that he likes ‘a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people’. So it’s nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Anacle Systems is a smaller company with a market capitalization of HK$197.6m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions don’t own shares in the company. Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about 8353.

View our latest analysis for Anacle Systems

SEHK:8353 Ownership Summary September 17th 18
SEHK:8353 Ownership Summary September 17th 18

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Anacle Systems?

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 fund under management, so the institition does not bother to look closely at the company. On the other hand, it’s always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don’t think it’s the best place for their money. 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 Anacle Systems, for yourself, below.

SEHK:8353 Income Statement Export September 17th 18
SEHK:8353 Income Statement Export September 17th 18

We note that hedge funds don’t have a meaningful investment in Anacle Systems. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Anacle Systems

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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Anacle Systems Limited. As individuals, the insiders collectively own HK$11.3m worth of the HK$197.6m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but I usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 44.3% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over 8353. 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 Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 44.9% stake in 8353. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 5.1% of 8353. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It’s always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Anacle Systems better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free .

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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

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