After the recent decline, JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) CEO Xiande Li's holdings have lost 4.4% of their value

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over JinkoSolar Holding implies vested interests in company growth
• The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutions own 27% of JinkoSolar Holding

A look at the shareholders of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 37% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to US$1.2b last week, insiders would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of JinkoSolar Holding.

View our latest analysis for JinkoSolar Holding

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About JinkoSolar Holding?

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.

JinkoSolar Holding already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see JinkoSolar Holding's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in JinkoSolar Holding. The company's CEO Xiande Li is the largest shareholder with 20% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 14% and 4.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of JinkoSolar Holding

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.

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 JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful US$448m stake in this US$1.2b business. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 35% 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.

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 JinkoSolar Holding is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.