Yintai Gold Co., Ltd.'s (SZSE:000975) last week's 7.3% decline must have disappointed retail investors who have a significant stake

Key Insights

• Yintai Gold's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 51% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• 17% of Yintai Gold is held by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Yintai Gold Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000975) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 32% 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.

And last week, retail investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 7.3%.

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

See our latest analysis for Yintai Gold

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yintai Gold?

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.

We can see that Yintai Gold 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 Yintai Gold's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Yintai Gold. The company's largest shareholder is Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd., with ownership of 29%. With 14% and 2.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, Wang Shui and Shao Cheng are the second and third largest shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Yintai Gold

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. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Yintai Gold Co., Ltd.. Insiders own CN¥8.7b worth of shares in the CN¥52b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 32% 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 29% of the Yintai Gold shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Yintai Gold that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.