Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Shanghai QiFan Cable's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 62% ownership
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Shanghai QiFan Cable Co., Ltd (SHSE:605222), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 68% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, insiders were the biggest beneficiaries of last week's 9.0% gain.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Shanghai QiFan Cable?

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 Shanghai QiFan Cable does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Shanghai QiFan Cable, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Shanghai QiFan Cable. The company's CEO Gonghua Zhou is the largest shareholder with 22% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Guihua Zhou and Guixing Zhou, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 20%. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Guixing Zhou is also a Vice Chairman, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Shanghai QiFan Cable

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. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Shanghai QiFan Cable Co., Ltd. This gives them effective control of the company. That means insiders have a very meaningful CN¥5.3b stake in this CN¥7.8b business. 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-- including retail investors -- own 23% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Shanghai QiFan Cable better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Shanghai QiFan Cable (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.