Key Insights

• Significant control over Anhui Gujing Distillery by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 51% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Anhui Gujing Group Co., Ltd.)
• Institutions own 24% of Anhui Gujing Distillery

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Anhui Gujing Distillery Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000596), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 51% to be precise, is private companies. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 25% ownership in the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Anhui Gujing Distillery.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Anhui Gujing Distillery?

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.

We can see that Anhui Gujing Distillery does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Anhui Gujing Distillery'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 Anhui Gujing Distillery. Anhui Gujing Group Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 51% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 2.7% and 2.2%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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 Anhui Gujing Distillery

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Anhui Gujing Distillery. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 51%, of the shares on issue. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Anhui Gujing Distillery (including 1 which is significant) .

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.