Key Insights

• Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 10 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders own 43% of Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology

If you want to know who really controls Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002962), 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 49% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While retail investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week's 10% price gain, insiders also received a 43% cut.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hubei W-olf Photoelectric 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.

Less than 5% of Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. We sometimes see a rising share price when a few big institutions want to buy a certain stock at the same time. The history of earnings and revenue, which you can see below, could be helpful in considering if more institutional investors will want the stock. Of course, there are plenty of other factors to consider, too.

Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology is not owned by hedge funds. With a 29% stake, CEO Binbin Liao is the largest shareholder. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.1% and 4.9% of the stock. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Lei Wei is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 10 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥4.3b, and insiders have CN¥1.9b worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 49% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 3.7%, of the Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Hubei W-olf Photoelectric Technology (including 1 which can't be ignored) .

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.