Key Insights

• Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 6 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Better Life Commercial Chain Share Co.,Ltd (SZSE:002251), 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 retail investors with 47% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to CN¥2.8b last week, retail investors would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd?

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.

Institutions have a very small stake in Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd. That indicates that the company is on the radar of some funds, but it isn't particularly popular with professional investors at the moment. So if the company itself can improve over time, we may well see more institutional buyers in the future. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind it's the future that counts most.

Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd is not owned by hedge funds. Better Life Investment Group Co., Ltd is currently the largest shareholder, with 24% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 10% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.2% by the third-largest shareholder.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Better Life Commercial Chain Share Co.,Ltd. In their own names, insiders own CN¥171m worth of stock in the CN¥2.8b company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 47% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 10%, private equity firms could influence the Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 32%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

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 be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Better Life Commercial Chain ShareLtd .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.