Key Insights

• Ganyuan Foods' significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The largest shareholder of the company is Binsheng Yan with a 57% stake
• Institutions own 17% of Ganyuan Foods

A look at the shareholders of Ganyuan Foods Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002991) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 63% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit CN¥6.4b market cap following a 14% gain in the stock.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Ganyuan Foods.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ganyuan Foods?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Ganyuan Foods. Binsheng Yan is currently the largest shareholder, with 57% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.1% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.8% by the third-largest shareholder.

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. 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 Ganyuan Foods

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Ganyuan Foods Co., Ltd.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means they own CN¥4.1b worth of shares in the CN¥6.4b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 18% stake in Ganyuan Foods. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Ganyuan Foods has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

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.