Retail investors are CSE Global Limited's (SGX:544) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by S$28m last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over CSE Global by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 16 shareholders own 49% of the company
• Institutional ownership in CSE Global is 17%

Every investor in CSE Global Limited (SGX:544) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, retail investors collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit S$280m 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 CSE Global.

View our latest analysis for CSE Global

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CSE Global?

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 CSE Global. 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. 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 CSE Global's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in CSE Global. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited with 25% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.2% and 4.1% of the stock. In addition, we found that Boon Kheng Lim, the CEO has 2.7% of the shares allocated to their name.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 16 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where 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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of CSE Global

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We can see that insiders own shares in CSE Global Limited. In their own names, insiders own S$19m worth of stock in the S$280m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of CSE Global. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 25%, private equity firms could influence the CSE Global board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for CSE Global (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

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.