Every investor in Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited (HKG:440) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 44% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And following last week's 6.9% decline in share price, insiders suffered the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Dah Sing Financial Holdings, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Dah Sing Financial Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dah Sing Financial Holdings?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Dah Sing Financial Holdings. 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 Dah Sing Financial Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Dah Sing Financial Holdings. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Dah Sing Financial Holdings' case, its Top Key Executive, Shou-Yeh Wong, is the largest shareholder, holding 43% of shares outstanding. Norinchukin-Zenkyoren Asset Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.9% of common stock, and abrdn plc holds about 5.6% of the company stock.

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.

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 Dah Sing Financial Holdings

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited. It has a market capitalization of just HK$6.2b, and insiders have HK$2.7b worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 31% stake in Dah Sing Financial Holdings. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Dah Sing Financial Holdings that you should be aware of before investing here.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.