Retail investors who have a significant stake must be disappointed along with institutions after Country Garden Services Holdings Company Limited's (HKG:6098) market cap dropped by HK$802m

Key Insights

• Country Garden Services Holdings' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 50% of the business is held by the top 11 shareholders
• 16% of Country Garden Services Holdings is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls Country Garden Services Holdings Company Limited (HKG:6098), 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 45% 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.

Following a 4.2% decrease in the stock price last week, retail investors suffered the most losses, but institutions who own 39% stock also took a hit.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Country Garden Services Holdings.

See our latest analysis for Country Garden Services Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Country Garden Services Holdings?

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.

Country Garden Services Holdings already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Country Garden Services Holdings' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Country Garden Services Holdings. Guoqiang Public Welfare Foundation (Hong Kong) Limited, Endowment Arm is currently the largest shareholder, with 20% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 16% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 11 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Country Garden Services Holdings

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

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Country Garden Services Holdings Company Limited. Insiders own HK$3.0b worth of shares in the HK$18b company. That's quite meaningful. 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

With a 45% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Country Garden Services Holdings. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Country Garden Services Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Country Garden Services Holdings 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.