RLX Technology Inc.'s (NYSE:RLX) CEO Wang Ying is the most upbeat insider, and their holdings increased by 4.3% last week

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in RLX Technology's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 50% of the business is held by the top 6 shareholders
• 22% of RLX Technology is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls RLX Technology Inc. (NYSE:RLX), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders 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).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week’s 4.3% gain.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of RLX Technology.

View our latest analysis for RLX Technology

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About RLX Technology?

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.

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

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in RLX Technology. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Wang Ying with 20% of shares outstanding. Jiang Long is the second largest shareholder owning 9.3% of common stock, and Wen Yilong holds about 6.1% of the company stock. Interestingly, the second and third-largest shareholders also happen to be the Top Key Executive and Member of the Board of Directors, respectively. This once again signifies considerable insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

We also observed that the top 6 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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

Insider Ownership Of RLX Technology

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.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in RLX Technology Inc.. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful US$1.2b stake in this US$3.0b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 32% stake in RLX Technology. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand RLX Technology 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.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.