Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Binjiang Service Group's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• 59% 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

A look at the shareholders of Binjiang Service Group Co. Ltd. (HKG:3316) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 72% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week's 9.4% gain.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Binjiang Service Group, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Binjiang Service Group?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Binjiang Service Group might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Binjiang Service Group is not owned by hedge funds. Jinxing Qi is currently the largest shareholder, with 46% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Jianhua Mo and Huiming Zhu, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 13%.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 59% stake.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Binjiang Service Group

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. 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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Binjiang Service Group Co. Ltd.. This gives them effective control of the company. That means they own HK$3.5b worth of shares in the HK$4.8b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 27% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Binjiang Service Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Binjiang Service Group that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.