Sanyou Corporation Limited's (SZSE:300932) largest shareholder, CEO Chaoyang Song sees holdings value fall by 13% following recent drop

Key Insights

• Sanyou's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 4 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

A look at the shareholders of Sanyou Corporation Limited (SZSE:300932) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 45% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by CN¥450m.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sanyou.

View our latest analysis for Sanyou

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sanyou?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Sanyou. 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 Sanyou'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 Sanyou. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Chaoyang Song with 26% of shares outstanding. With 12% and 7.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Tiannian Fu and Dongguan Hoayuxuan Investment Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership) are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Tiannian Fu is also Senior Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Sanyou

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.

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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Sanyou Corporation Limited. Insiders own CN¥1.4b worth of shares in the CN¥3.0b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 36% stake in Sanyou. 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 13%, of the shares on issue. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Sanyou (at least 1 which can't be ignored) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free 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.