Key Insights

• Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• 70% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Kwok Lung Hon)
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited (HKG:256), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 70% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And following last week's 7.3% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group.

View our latest analysis for Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. 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 Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group, for yourself, below.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group's case, its Top Key Executive, Kwok Lung Hon, is the largest shareholder, holding 70% of shares outstanding. With 4.6% and 0.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Fujian Fengrong Investment Ltd. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP are the second and third largest shareholders.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group

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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. That means they own HK$3.5b worth of shares in the HK$5.0b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% 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 4.6%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group you should know about.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.