Private companies are Grieg Seafood ASA's (OB:GSF) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by kr695m last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Grieg Seafood indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Grieg Maturitas AS owns 51% of the company
• Institutions own 15% of Grieg Seafood

If you want to know who really controls Grieg Seafood ASA (OB:GSF), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 60% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, private companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit kr7.3b market cap following a 11% gain in the stock.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Grieg Seafood.

View our latest analysis for Grieg Seafood

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Grieg Seafood?

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.

Grieg Seafood 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Grieg Seafood's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Grieg Seafood. Our data shows that Grieg Maturitas AS is the largest shareholder with 51% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 5.1% and 2.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Om Holding AS and Nicolai Grieg are the second and third largest shareholders. Nicolai Grieg, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

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 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 Grieg Seafood

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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Grieg Seafood ASA. As individuals, the insiders collectively own kr172m worth of the kr7.3b company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 23% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Grieg Seafood. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 60%, of the Grieg Seafood 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 Grieg Seafood better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Grieg Seafood you should be aware of.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.