Key Insights

• Guizhou Gas Group's significant private companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• 26% of Guizhou Gas Group is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of Guizhou Gas Group Corporation Ltd. (SHSE:600903) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 5.7% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 26% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Guizhou Gas Group, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Guizhou Gas Group?

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 Guizhou Gas Group 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 Guizhou Gas Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Guizhou Gas Group is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Guizhou Wujiang Energy Group Co., Ltd, with ownership of 30%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 25% and 20%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Guizhou Gas Group

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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Guizhou Gas Group Corporation Ltd.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own CN¥415m worth of shares (at current prices). If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 51%, of the shares on issue. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Guizhou Gas Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Guizhou Gas Group (2 are significant) that you should be aware of.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.