Individual investors invested in Greentown Service Group Co. Ltd. (HKG:2869) copped the brunt of last week's HK$472m market cap decline

Key Insights

• Significant control over Greentown Service Group by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Insiders own 16% of Greentown Service Group

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A look at the shareholders of Greentown Service Group Co. Ltd. (HKG:2869) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 39% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And last week, individual investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 3.1%.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Greentown Service Group.

Check out our latest analysis for Greentown Service Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Greentown Service Group?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Greentown Service Group. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Greentown Service Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Greentown Service Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Orchid Garden Investment Company Limited with 32% of shares outstanding. Hairong Li is the second largest shareholder owning 14% of common stock, and China Merchants Fund Management Company Ltd. holds about 4.2% of the company stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Greentown Service Group

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Greentown Service Group Co. Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just HK$15b, and insiders have HK$2.5b worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 39% 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 32%, of the shares on issue. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Greentown Service Group is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.