Key Insights

• Significant control over Anhui Conch Cement by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 12 shareholders
• Institutions own 22% of Anhui Conch Cement

If you want to know who really controls Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited (HKG:914), 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 retail investors with 38% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And private companies on the other hand have a 37% ownership in the company.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Anhui Conch Cement.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Anhui Conch Cement?

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 Anhui Conch Cement. 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. 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 Anhui Conch Cement's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Anhui Conch Cement. Anhui Conch Group Co., Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 37% of shares outstanding. With 3.0% and 2.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, China Securities Finance Corp, Asset Management Arm and TCC Group Holdings Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 12 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Anhui Conch Cement

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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 Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own HK$1.7m of stock. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Anhui Conch Cement. 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 37%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Anhui Conch Cement .

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.