Key Insights

• Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• A total of 6 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Institutions own 20% of Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology

A look at the shareholders of Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology Co., Ltd. (SHSE:688389) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 45% to be precise, is individual insiders. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by CN¥493m.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology?

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 Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology 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. 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 Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Xiancheng Liu, with ownership of 29%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.9% by the third-largest shareholder. Ming Long Hu, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

We also observed that the top 6 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology Co., Ltd.. Insiders own CN¥3.2b worth of shares in the CN¥7.0b company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 28% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Shenzhen Lifotronic Technology. 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 7.3%, of the shares on issue. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.