Key Insights

• Significant control over Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 18 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Insiders own 22% of Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd

If you want to know who really controls Suzhou Shijing Environmental Technology Co.,Ltd. (SZSE:301030), 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 individual investors with 47% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While the holdings of individual investors took a hit after last week's 6.0% price drop, insiders with their 22% also suffered.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd?

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.

We can see that Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd. The company's CEO Ye Zhu is the largest shareholder with 16% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.8% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.3% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Xiaohong Ye is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 18 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Suzhou Shijing Environmental Technology Co.,Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥6.8b, and insiders have CN¥1.5b worth of shares in their own names. 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

With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd. 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 Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 9.8%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Suzhou Shijing Environmental TechnologyLtd is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those are potentially serious...

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.