Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by public companies in China Railway Hi-tech Industry indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 53% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• 19% of China Railway Hi-tech Industry is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls China Railway Hi-tech Industry Corporation Limited (SHSE:600528), 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 public companies with 49% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As market cap fell to CN¥16b last week, public companies would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about China Railway Hi-tech Industry.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About China Railway Hi-tech Industry?

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.

We can see that China Railway Hi-tech Industry 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of China Railway Hi-tech Industry, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in China Railway Hi-tech Industry. China Railway Group Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 49% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.2% and 1.7% of the stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of China Railway Hi-tech Industry

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

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 less than 1% of China Railway Hi-tech Industry Corporation Limited. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own CN¥624k worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 32% 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 49% of the China Railway Hi-tech Industry shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand China Railway Hi-tech Industry better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for China Railway Hi-tech Industry you should know about.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.