Key Insights

• Significant control over Wenfeng Great World Chain Development by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 7 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 17% of Wenfeng Great World Chain Development is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls Wenfeng Great World Chain Development Corporation (SHSE:601010), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 50% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, individual investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CN¥592m last week.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Wenfeng Great World Chain Development.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wenfeng Great World Chain Development?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Wenfeng Great World Chain Development. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Wenfeng Great World Chain Development, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Wenfeng Great World Chain Development is not owned by hedge funds. Jiangsu Wenfeng Group Co.,Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 25% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 5.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Su Zhen Zheng and Shanghai Jiahong Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 7 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. 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 Wenfeng Great World Chain Development

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. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Wenfeng Great World Chain Development Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥5.7b, and insiders have CN¥955m worth of shares in their own names. 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 50% stake in Wenfeng Great World Chain Development. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 25%, of the shares on issue. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Wenfeng Great World Chain Development you should be aware of, and 2 of them shouldn'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.