Public companies among Dah Sing Banking Group Limited's (HKG:2356) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 7.3% last week

Key Insights

• Dah Sing Banking Group's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited owns 74% of the company
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Dah Sing Banking Group Limited (HKG:2356), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 74% stake, public companies possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, public companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit HK$7.8b market cap following a 7.3% gain in the stock.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Dah Sing Banking Group.

Check out our latest analysis for Dah Sing Banking Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dah Sing Banking Group?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Dah Sing Banking Group already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Banking Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Dah Sing Banking Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited with 74% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. With 2.8% and 1.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Schroder Investment Management (Hong Kong) Ltd. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP are the second and third largest shareholders.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Dah Sing Banking 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. 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.

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 information suggests that Dah Sing Banking Group Limited insiders own under 1% of the company. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own HK$26m worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 18% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Dah Sing Banking 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 74% of Dah Sing Banking Group stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Dah Sing Banking Group .

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.