Key Insights

• Significant control over CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited with a 59% stake
• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) Company Limited (HKG:317), 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 59% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit HK$31b market cap following a 8.0% gain in the stock.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group).

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (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.

CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group)'s earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group). China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 59% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 1.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group)

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 32% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group). This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 59%, of the CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) .

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.