Key Insights

• Yunnan Tin's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 11 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Institutions own 11% of Yunnan Tin

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Yunnan Tin Company Limited (SZSE:000960), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 45% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, individual investors as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by CN¥3.8b.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yunnan Tin?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Yunnan Tin 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 Yunnan Tin's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Yunnan Tin. The company's largest shareholder is Yunnan Tin Group Company Limited, with ownership of 33%. Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Company Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 11% of common stock, and Huarong Ruitong Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. holds about 1.5% of the company stock.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 11 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 Yunnan Tin

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.

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. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 45% stake in Yunnan Tin. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 44%, 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Yunnan Tin (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

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.