Individual investors in Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) Limited (SZSE:000017) are its biggest bettors, and their bets paid off as stock gained 9.7% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 17 shareholders own 46% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) is 15%

If you want to know who really controls Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) Limited (SZSE:000017), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 54% stake, individual investors 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).

Clearly, individual investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CN¥386m last week.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings).

Check out our latest analysis for Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings)?

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.

Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings), (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings). Wansheng Industrial Holdings (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 20% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.9% by the third-largest shareholder.

Our studies suggest that the top 17 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings)

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) Limited. In their own names, insiders own CN¥44m worth of stock in the CN¥3.2b company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 54% of Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) shares. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 30%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Shenzhen China Bicycle Company (Holdings) better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.