WEBULL

Harbin Bank Co., Ltd.'s (HKG:6138) market cap surged HK$495m last week, private companies who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Simply Wall St · 06/26 22:08

Key Insights

  • The considerable ownership by private companies in Harbin Bank indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
  • 55% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
  • Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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If you want to know who really controls Harbin Bank Co., Ltd. (HKG:6138), 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 private companies with 57% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 12% gain.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Harbin Bank.

View our latest analysis for Harbin Bank

ownership-breakdown
SEHK:6138 Ownership Breakdown June 26th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Harbin Bank?

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 Harbin Bank does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Harbin Bank's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
SEHK:6138 Earnings and Revenue Growth June 26th 2025

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Harbin Bank. The company's largest shareholder is Harbin Municipal People's Government State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, with ownership of 30%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 19% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 55% stake.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Harbin Bank

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Harbin Bank Co., Ltd.. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It has a market capitalization of just HK$4.6b, and the board has only HK$500 worth of shares in their own names. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 23% stake in Harbin Bank. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 57%, of the Harbin Bank stock. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 6.6% of Harbin Bank. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Harbin Bank that you should be aware of.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.