Key Insights

• Significant control over Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 3 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry is 28%

If you want to know who really controls Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry Corporation Limited (SHSE:603477), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 48% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While private companies were the group that benefitted the most from last week's CN¥1b market cap gain, institutions too had a 28% share in those profits.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry?

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 Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry. Sichuan Giant Star Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 29% of shares outstanding. Sichuan Hebang Investment Group Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 18% of common stock, and Zhong Ou Fund Management Co., Ltd holds about 4.3% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry Corporation Limited. 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¥458m 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-- including retail investors -- own 20% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 48%, of the Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry stock. 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 Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Leshan Giantstar Farming&Husbandry you should know about.

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.