Private companies who hold 53% of Lerøy Seafood Group ASA (OB:LSG) gained 5.0%, institutions profited as well

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in Lerøy Seafood Group indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The largest shareholder of the company is Laco AS with a 53% stake
• Institutions own 37% of Lerøy Seafood Group

If you want to know who really controls Lerøy Seafood Group ASA (OB:LSG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Following a 5.0% increase in the stock price last week, private companies profited the most, but institutions who own 37% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Lerøy Seafood Group.

View our latest analysis for Lerøy Seafood Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Lerøy Seafood 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.

We can see that Lerøy Seafood Group does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Lerøy Seafood Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Lerøy Seafood Group is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Laco AS with 53% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. Folketrygdfondet is the second largest shareholder owning 5.0% of common stock, and UBS Asset Management AG holds about 4.0% of the company stock.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Lerøy Seafood Group

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 Lerøy Seafood Group ASA insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own kr5.6m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 10% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Lerøy Seafood Group. 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 53%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Lerøy Seafood Group you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.