Key Insights

• Significant control over China Express AirlinesLTD by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 19% of China Express AirlinesLTD is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls China Express Airlines Co.,LTD (SZSE:002928), 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 50% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, private companies as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by CN¥522m.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About China Express AirlinesLTD?

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 China Express AirlinesLTD 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 China Express AirlinesLTD, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in China Express AirlinesLTD. China Express Airlines Holding (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 29% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 6.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 51% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. 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 China Express AirlinesLTD

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of China Express Airlines Co.,LTD in their own names. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥7.1b, and the board has only CN¥556 worth of shares in their own names. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 31% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over China Express AirlinesLTD. 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 50%, of the China Express AirlinesLTD stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private 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.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.