Key Insights

• Significant control over Ming Yang Smart Energy Group by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 42% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Insiders own 16% of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Limited (SHSE:601615), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 56% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week's 7.5% price drop, institutions with their 17% holdings also suffered.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ming Yang Smart Energy Group?

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.

Ming Yang Smart Energy Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Ming Yang Smart Energy Group's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Ming Yang Smart Energy Group. The company's CEO Chuanwei Zhang is the largest shareholder with 15% of shares outstanding. With 9.3% and 2.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Ming Yang New Energy Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. and Citigroup Inc.,Banking and Securities Investments are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Limited. Insiders own CN¥4.5b worth of shares in the CN¥28b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 56% of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 12%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the 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. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Ming Yang Smart Energy Group that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.