Following a 49% decline over last year, recent gains may please JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) institutional owners

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, JinkoSolar Holding's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• The top 7 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Insiders own 34% of JinkoSolar Holding

Every investor in JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 36% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors would appreciate the 12% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 49%.

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 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. 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 18% of shares outstanding. Kangping Chen is the second largest shareholder owning 14% of common stock, and Mackenzie Financial Corporation holds about 4.9% of the company stock.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 7 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 JinkoSolar Holding

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful US$441m stake in this US$1.3b 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 26% stake in JinkoSolar Holding. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for JinkoSolar Holding that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.