Key Insights

• Significant control over Sino Medical Sciences Technology by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 17 shareholders own 51% of the company
• 26% of Sino Medical Sciences Technology is held by insiders

Every investor in Sino Medical Sciences Technology Inc. (SHSE:688108) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 41% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While retail investors were the group that reaped the most benefits after last week's 13% price gain, insiders also received a 26% cut.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Sino Medical Sciences Technology, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sino Medical Sciences Technology?

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 Sino Medical Sciences Technology 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. 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 Sino Medical Sciences Technology's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Sino Medical Sciences Technology. With a 18% stake, CEO Jianhua Sun is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 17 have the combined ownership of 51% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over 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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Sino Medical Sciences Technology

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

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Sino Medical Sciences Technology Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just CN¥4.6b, and insiders have CN¥1.2b worth of shares in their own names. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sino Medical Sciences Technology. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 9.4%, of the company's shares. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sino Medical Sciences Technology better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Sino Medical Sciences Technology that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.