Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Suzhou Sunmun Technology indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 30% of Suzhou Sunmun Technology

If you want to know who really controls Suzhou Sunmun Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300522), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company 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).

While insiders who own 30% came under pressure after market cap dropped to CN¥3.8b last week,retail investors took the most losses.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Suzhou Sunmun Technology.

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Suzhou Sunmun Technology?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are multiple explanations for why institutions don't own a stock. The most common is that the company is too small relative to funds under management, so the institution does not bother to look closely at the company. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Suzhou Sunmun Technology, for yourself, below.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Suzhou Sunmun Technology. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Shi Ming Lu with 23% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 17% and 2.8% of the stock.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Suzhou Sunmun Technology

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

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Suzhou Sunmun Technology Co., Ltd.. Insiders own CN¥1.1b worth of shares in the CN¥3.8b company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 49% stake in Suzhou Sunmun Technology. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 21%, of the Suzhou Sunmun Technology stock. 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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.