Retail investors among Western Regions Tourism Development Co.,Ltd's (SZSE:300859) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 7.8% last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 52% of the business is held by the top 5 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd is 16%

Every investor in Western Regions Tourism Development Co.,Ltd (SZSE:300859) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 40% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, retail investors were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 7.8% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd.

Check out our latest analysis for Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd?

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 Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd is not owned by hedge funds. Xinjiang Tianchi Holdings Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 29% of shares outstanding. With 9.6% and 8.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Changji State-owned Assets Investment Operating Co., Ltd. and Xinjiang Kunlun Investment Development Partnership (Limited Partnership) are the second and third largest shareholders.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 52% of the company is controlled by the top 5 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

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. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 some shares in Western Regions Tourism Development Co.,Ltd. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥5.6b, and insiders have CN¥313m worth of shares, in their own names. 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-- including retail investors -- own 40% 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 39%, 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 Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Western Regions Tourism DevelopmentLtd (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.

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.