Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after 3SBio Inc.'s (HKG:1530) market cap dropped by HK$565m

Key Insights

• Significant control over 3SBio by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 17 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in 3SBio is 28%

If you want to know who really controls 3SBio Inc. (HKG:1530), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 42% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While institutions who own 28% came under pressure after market cap dropped to HK$14b last week,retail investors took the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of 3SBio.

Check out our latest analysis for 3SBio

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About 3SBio?

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 3SBio does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 3SBio's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in 3SBio. Century Sunshine Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 20% of shares outstanding. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 8.3% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 3.0% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Jing Lou, the CEO has 2.4% of the shares allocated to their name.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 17 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 3SBio

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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in 3SBio Inc.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own HK$1.1b worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 42% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over 3SBio. 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 22%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with 3SBio , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.