Every investor in Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd (SZSE:002839) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank has a market capitalization of CN¥11b, so we would expect some institutional investors to have noticed the stock. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank.

See our latest analysis for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank?

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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank. The company's largest shareholder is Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., Ltd., with ownership of 8.2%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

Our information suggests that Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd 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. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own CN¥25m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 53% of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 39%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.