Retail investors are Jinyuan EP Co., Ltd.'s (SZSE:000546) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by CN¥403m last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over Jinyuan EP by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 13 investors have a majority stake in the company with 47% ownership
• 16% of Jinyuan EP is held by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Jinyuan EP Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000546) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 53% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CN¥403m last week.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Jinyuan EP

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jinyuan EP?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Jinyuan EP, for yourself, below.

Jinyuan EP is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Jinyuan Holding Group Co., Ltd. with 30% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.5% and 3.5% of the stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 13 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. 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 Jinyuan EP

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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 a reasonable proportion of Jinyuan EP Co., Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥4.9b, and insiders have CN¥786m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 53% of Jinyuan EP. 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 Jinyuan EP better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Jinyuan EP you should know about.

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.