Key Insights

• Significant control over Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank 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 40% ownership
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd (SZSE:002839) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 59% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by CN¥1.5b last week.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank. 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank. Zhangjiagang State Owned Capital Investment Group Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 8.8% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.2% and 7.6% of the stock.

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. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around CN¥21m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 59% of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank. 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 32%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank .

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.