Retail investors in Minfeng Special Paper Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:600235) are its biggest bettors, and their bets paid off as stock gained 13% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Minfeng Special PaperLtd by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 41% of the business is held by the top 17 shareholders
• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Minfeng Special Paper Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:600235), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 59% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CN¥197m last week.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Minfeng Special PaperLtd, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Minfeng Special PaperLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Minfeng Special PaperLtd?

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 Minfeng Special PaperLtd does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Minfeng Special PaperLtd's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Minfeng Special PaperLtd. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Zhejiang Jiaxing Stated-Owned Capital Investment and Operation Co.,Ltd. with 35% of shares outstanding. Gfund Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 1.3% of common stock, and Goldstate Capital Fund Management Co., Ltd. holds about 0.8% of the company stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 17 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 Minfeng Special PaperLtd

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. 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.

Our information suggests that Minfeng Special Paper Co.,Ltd. insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥1.7b, and the board has only CN¥7.7m worth of shares in their own names. 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 59% stake in Minfeng Special PaperLtd, 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

It seems that Private Companies own 35%, of the Minfeng Special PaperLtd 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Minfeng Special PaperLtd 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.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.