Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd.'s (SGX:BS6) stock price dropped 6.6% last week; retail investors would not be happy

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 14 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) is 21%

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd. (SGX:BS6), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 43% to be precise, is retail investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, retail investors as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by S$632m.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings), beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings)

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings)?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings), (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings). YZJ Settlement Julius Baer Trust Company is currently the company's largest shareholder with 22% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 14 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings)

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

We can see that insiders own shares in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth S$404m. Most would see this as a real positive. 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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings). 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

It seems that Private Companies own 31%, of the Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) better, we need to consider many other factors.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com