The People's Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited's (HKG:1339) stock price dropped 4.7% last week; state or government would not be happy

Key Insights

• People's Insurance Company (Group) of China's significant state or government ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The largest shareholder of the company is Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China with a 61% stake
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls The People's Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited (HKG:1339), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 61% to be precise, is state or government. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to HK$308b last week, state or government would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of People's Insurance Company (Group) of China, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for People's Insurance Company (Group) of China

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About People's Insurance Company (Group) of China?

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 People's Insurance Company (Group) of China 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 People's Insurance Company (Group) of China's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

People's Insurance Company (Group) of China is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China with 61% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. National Council for Social Security Fund is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 1.8% of the company stock.

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

Insider Ownership Of People's Insurance Company (Group) of China

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

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of The People's Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own HK$486m of stock. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 20% stake in People's Insurance Company (Group) of China. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Be aware that People's Insurance Company (Group) of China is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is concerning...

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.