Key Insights

• Significant control over Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 44% ownership
• Insider ownership in Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd is 16%

If you want to know who really controls Zhejiang Sunoren Solar Technology Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:603105), 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 56% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As market cap fell to CN¥4.2b last week, retail investors 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 Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd 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 Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd. Our data shows that Haining Zhengda Warp Knitting Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 14% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Zhenhao Zhang and Lizhong Zhang, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 5.7%. Two of the top three shareholders happen to be Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, respectively. That is, insiders feature higher up in the heirarchy of the company's top shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd

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. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 Zhejiang Sunoren Solar Technology Co.,Ltd.. Insiders own CN¥678m worth of shares in the CN¥4.2b 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 substantial 56% stake in Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 17%, of the Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd stock. 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 2 warning signs for Zhejiang Sunoren Solar TechnologyLtd you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.