Key Insights

• Significant control over Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt by individual 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
• Institutions own 19% of Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt

A look at the shareholders of Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd (SHSE:603799) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% 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.

And last week, individual investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 12%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt?

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 Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt 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. 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 Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Zhejiang Huayou Holding Group Co., Ltd. with 16% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.6% and 4.5% of the stock.

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.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around CN¥3.6b worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 54% stake in Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 20%, 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

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.