Jiangsu General Science Technology Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:601500) last week's 4.7% decline must have disappointed private companies who have a significant stake

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Jiangsu General Science Technology indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Jiangsu General Science Technology is 20%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Jiangsu General Science Technology Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601500), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are private companies with 43% 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 as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by CN¥413m.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Jiangsu General Science Technology.

Check out our latest analysis for Jiangsu General Science Technology

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jiangsu General Science Technology?

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.

We can see that Jiangsu General Science Technology does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Jiangsu General Science Technology's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Jiangsu General Science Technology. Hongdou Group Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 41% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 4.9% and 4.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Jiangsu General Science Technology

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Jiangsu General Science Technology Co., Ltd.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own CN¥99m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 36% 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 43%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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 Jiangsu General Science Technology (2 don't sit too well with us) 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.