Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Ligao FoodsLtd's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 6 investors have a majority stake in the company with 53% ownership
• Institutions own 13% of Ligao FoodsLtd

A look at the shareholders of Ligao Foods Co.,Ltd. (SZSE:300973) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 56% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, insiders endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 4.3%.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Ligao FoodsLtd.

View our latest analysis for Ligao FoodsLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ligao FoodsLtd?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Ligao FoodsLtd. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 Ligao FoodsLtd, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Ligao FoodsLtd. Yuhui Peng is currently the company's largest shareholder with 19% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10% and 9.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Baokun Bai, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, CEO Hejun Chen is the owner of 6.4% of the company's shares.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 6 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Ligao FoodsLtd

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.

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.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Ligao Foods Co.,Ltd. stock. This gives them a lot of power. Given it has a market cap of CN¥8.9b, that means insiders have a whopping CN¥5.0b worth of shares in their own names. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been selling any of their shares.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 24% stake in Ligao FoodsLtd. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 6.1%, of the Ligao FoodsLtd 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Ligao FoodsLtd has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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.