The Star Entertainment Group Limited's (ASX:SGR) market cap dropped AU$115m last week; individual investors who hold 45% were hit as were institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Star Entertainment Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 51% of the business is held by the top 14 shareholders
• 11% of Star Entertainment Group is held by insiders

Every investor in The Star Entertainment Group Limited (ASX:SGR) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 45% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions, who own 37% shares weren’t spared from last week’s AU$115m market cap drop, individual investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

See our latest analysis for Star Entertainment Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Star Entertainment 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.

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

Star Entertainment Group is not owned by hedge funds. Bruce Mathieson is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.6% of shares outstanding. Perpetual Limited is the second largest shareholder owning 8.8% of common stock, and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. holds about 6.2% of the company stock.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 14 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Star Entertainment Group

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of The Star Entertainment Group Limited. Insiders have a AU$73m stake in this AU$645m business. 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

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 45% 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 3.3%, 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 3.6% of Star Entertainment Group stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Star Entertainment Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Star Entertainment Group .

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.