Key Insights

• Significant control over Sunward Intelligent Equipment 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 43% ownership
• Institutional ownership in Sunward Intelligent Equipment is 17%

If you want to know who really controls Sunward Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002097), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 57% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 4.4% increase in the stock price last week, retail investors profited the most, but institutions who own 17% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sunward Intelligent Equipment.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sunward Intelligent Equipment?

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.

Sunward Intelligent Equipment already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Sunward Intelligent Equipment's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Sunward Intelligent Equipment. Guangzhou Vanlead Investment Holding Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 14% of shares outstanding. With 11% and 9.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, Guangzhou Hengyi Investment Development Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership) and Qinghua He are the second and third largest 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.

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 Sunward Intelligent Equipment

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 Sunward Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own CN¥859m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 57% stake in Sunward Intelligent Equipment, 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

We can see that Private Companies own 17%, 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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Sunward Intelligent Equipment (2 are concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.