To get a sense of who is truly in control of Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002376), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 48% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, individual investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 7.3%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology.

View our latest analysis for Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology?

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.

We can see that Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology 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 Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology is not owned by hedge funds. Weihai BeiYang Electric Group Co.,Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 14% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 12% and 6.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 14 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology Co., Ltd.. In their own names, insiders own CN¥306m worth of stock in the CN¥4.6b company. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 48% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 26%, of the shares on issue. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology (including 2 which make us uncomfortable) .

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.