Key Insights

• SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 41% of the business is held by the top 24 shareholders
• 39% of SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group is held by insiders

To get a sense of who is truly in control of SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300276), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. 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.

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week's CN¥701m market cap gain, insiders too had a 39% share in those profits.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group. The company's CEO Hanping Zhu is the largest shareholder with 19% of shares outstanding. With 7.8% and 7.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Hanmei Zhu and Wei Chen are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Wei Chen is also a Vice Chairman, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 24 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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. 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 SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group Co., Ltd.. Insiders have a CN¥2.7b stake in this CN¥6.9b business. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 59% of SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group. 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.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that SanFeng Intelligent Equipment Group is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.