Institutional investors own a significant stake of 48% in Kawan Food Berhad (KLSE:KAWAN)

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30-04-2025

Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Kawan Food Berhad's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
The top 2 shareholders own 55% of the company
37% of Kawan Food Berhad is held by insiders
We've discovered 1 warning sign about Kawan Food Berhad. View them for free.
A look at the shareholders of Kawan Food Berhad (KLSE:KAWAN) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 48% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Kawan Food Berhad.
Check out our latest analysis for Kawan Food 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.
We can see that Kawan Food Berhad does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Kawan Food Berhad, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Kawan Food Berhad is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Gfg Foundation, Endowment Arm with 37% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 18% and 7.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.
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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.
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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Kawan Food Berhad. It has a market capitalization of just RM469m, and insiders have RM172m worth of shares in their own names. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
With a 15% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Kawan Food Berhad. 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.
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. Take risks for example - Kawan Food Berhad has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.
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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