individual investors who own 35% along with institutions invested in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co., Ltd (SHSE:603596) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 50% of the business is held by the top 8 shareholders
• Insider ownership in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems is 20%

If you want to know who really controls Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co., Ltd (SHSE:603596), 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 individual investors with 35% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched CN¥29b last week, while institutions who own 24% also benefitted.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bethel Automotive Safety Systems.

See our latest analysis for Bethel Automotive Safety Systems

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bethel Automotive Safety Systems?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems. 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. 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 Bethel Automotive Safety Systems' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems. The company's CEO Yongbin Yuan is the largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 15% and 4.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We also observed that the top 8 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Bethel Automotive Safety Systems

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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co., Ltd. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥29b, and insiders have CN¥5.9b worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. 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 35% stake in Bethel Automotive Safety Systems. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 21%, of the shares on issue. 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.

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 Bethel Automotive Safety Systems 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.