Retail investors invested in EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:EH) copped the brunt of last week's US$83m market cap decline
Key Insights
EHang Holdings' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
A total of 10 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
If you want to know who really controls EHang Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:EH), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 48% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 12% price drop, insiders with their 40% also suffered.
Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about EHang Holdings.
View our latest analysis for EHang Holdings
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About EHang Holdings?
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in EHang Holdings. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of EHang Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
EHang Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. The company's CEO Huazhi Hu is the largest shareholder with 38% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.4% and 2.3% of the stock.
We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.
Insider Ownership Of EHang Holdings
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of EHang Holdings Limited. Insiders have a US$233m stake in this US$590m business. 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
With a 48% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over EHang Holdings. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
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 instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for EHang Holdings (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) that you should be aware of.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.
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.
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