Key Insights

• Significant control over Jiangsu Liba Enterprise by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 53% ownership
• 32% of Jiangsu Liba Enterprise is held by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Jiangsu Liba Enterprise Joint-Stock Co., Ltd. (SHSE:603519), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 39% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 11% decrease in the stock price last week, individual investors suffered the most losses, but insiders who own 32% stock also took a hit.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Jiangsu Liba Enterprise, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jiangsu Liba Enterprise?

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.

We can see that Jiangsu Liba Enterprise 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. 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 Jiangsu Liba Enterprise's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Jiangsu Liba Enterprise is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Feng Xian Lu with 26% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 22% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Jiangsu Liba Enterprise

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Jiangsu Liba Enterprise Joint-Stock Co., Ltd.. Insiders own CN¥945m worth of shares in the CN¥3.0b company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. 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 39% stake in Jiangsu Liba Enterprise. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 22%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Be aware that Jiangsu Liba Enterprise is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those can't be ignored...

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com