If you want to know who really controls Citic Guoan Wine CO.,LTD (SHSE:600084), 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 49% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies were the biggest beneficiaries of last week's 5.5% gain.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Citic Guoan WineLTD, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Citic Guoan WineLTD

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Citic Guoan WineLTD?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

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. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Citic Guoan WineLTD, for yourself, below.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Citic Guoan WineLTD. CITIC Guoan Group Corporation is currently the largest shareholder, with 34% of shares outstanding. With 10% and 5.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, CITIC Guoan Investment Co., Ltd. and Wei Sun are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Citic Guoan WineLTD

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Citic Guoan Wine CO.,LTD. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around CN¥439m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 46% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Citic Guoan WineLTD. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 49%, of the Citic Guoan WineLTD stock. 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. Take risks for example - Citic Guoan WineLTD has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.