Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks' growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 57% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600280), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 42% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And last week, insiders endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 19%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks?

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.

Less than 5% of Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind it's the future that counts most.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks. Our data shows that Yi Zhu is the largest shareholder with 42% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 1.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Jiangsu Dihua Industrial Group Co., Ltd. and UBS Asset Management AG are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of 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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks Co., Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥3.1b, and insiders have CN¥1.3b worth of shares in their own names. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. 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 39% stake in Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 15%, 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Nanjing Central Emporium (Group) Stocks you should be aware of.

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.