Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in 360 Security Technology indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 53% ownership
• 12% of 360 Security Technology is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls 360 Security Technology Inc. (SHSE:601360), 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 private companies with 47% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Meanwhile, individual investors make up 34% of the company's shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of 360 Security Technology, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About 360 Security 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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in 360 Security Technology. 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. 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 360 Security Technology, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in 360 Security Technology. Tianjin Qixin Tongda Technology Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 47% of shares outstanding. Huan Hu is the second largest shareholder owning 6.4% of common stock, and Hongyi Zhou holds about 5.4% of the company stock. Hongyi Zhou, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 2 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 360 Security Technology

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of 360 Security Technology Inc.. Insiders own CN¥7.1b worth of shares in the CN¥60b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 34% stake in 360 Security Technology. 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 47%, of the 360 Security Technology stock. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand 360 Security Technology better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that 360 Security Technology is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.