Individual investors invested in Qingdao Doublestar Co.,Ltd (SZSE:000599) copped the brunt of last week's CN¥417m market cap decline

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Qingdao DoublestarLtd indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 21 investors have a majority stake in the company with 48% ownership
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Qingdao Doublestar Co.,Ltd (SZSE:000599), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 11% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Qingdao DoublestarLtd, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Qingdao DoublestarLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Qingdao DoublestarLtd?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Qingdao DoublestarLtd 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 Qingdao DoublestarLtd'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 Qingdao DoublestarLtd. Double Star Group Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 32% of shares outstanding. With 5.4% and 3.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Qingdao Conson Development (Group) CO.,LTD and Qingdao Conson Capital Investment Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 21 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Qingdao DoublestarLtd

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.

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 Qingdao Doublestar Co.,Ltd. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It appears that the board holds about CN¥14m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of CN¥3.4b. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 52% stake in Qingdao DoublestarLtd, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 38%, of the shares on issue. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Qingdao DoublestarLtd you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this 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.

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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.