Individual investors are Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd.'s (SZSE:000157) biggest owners and were hit after market cap dropped CN¥2.0b

Key Insights

• Significant control over Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 20 shareholders
• Institutions own 19% of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology

A look at the shareholders of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000157) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 45% 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 3.2% decline in share price, individual investors suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology. 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. 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 Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and 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 Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology. Our data shows that Hunan Xingxiang Investment Holding Group Co.,Ltd is the largest shareholder with 14% of shares outstanding. Changsha Hesheng Science and Technology Investment Co., Ltd is the second largest shareholder owning 10% of common stock, and Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science And Technology Co., Ltd., ESOP holds about 9.4% of the company stock.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 20 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology

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 Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd.. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own CN¥314m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 45% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 27%, of the Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the 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. Take risks for example - Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.