Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by sovereign wealth funds in Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

• 54% of the business is held by the top 4 shareholders

• 37% of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (KLSE:AIRPORT) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 39% to be precise, is sovereign wealth funds. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While sovereign wealth funds were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s RM551m market cap gain, institutions too had a 37% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Malaysia Airports Holdings 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.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Khazanah Nasional Berhad with 33% of shares outstanding. With 7.7% and 7.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan are the second and third largest shareholders.

On looking further, we found that 54% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad

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.

Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 22% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.