Key Insights

• Significant control over China Tower by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 69% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in China Tower is 12%

If you want to know who really controls China Tower Corporation Limited (HKG:788), 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 private companies with 48% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Public companies, on the other hand, account for 21% of the company's stockholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of China Tower, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About China Tower?

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 China Tower does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 China Tower, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in China Tower. China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 28% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are China United Network Communications Limited and China Telecom Group Co., Ltd., with an equal amount of shares to their name at 21%.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of China Tower

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. We do not see this low level of ownership often, and it is possible our data is imperfect. But shareholders can click here to check if insiders have been selling stock.

General Public Ownership

With a 19% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over China Tower. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 48%, of the company's shares. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 21% of China Tower. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand China Tower better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that China Tower is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.