Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ORN) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 3.2% loss over the past year

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Orion Group Holdings' stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 16 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Insiders have been buying lately

Our free stock report includes 2 warning signs investors should be aware of before investing in Orion Group Holdings. Read for free now.

If you want to know who really controls Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ORN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 77% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 16% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 3.2%.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Orion Group Holdings.

Check out our latest analysis for Orion Group Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Orion Group Holdings?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

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

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Orion Group Holdings. The company's largest shareholder is Brandes Investment Partners, LP, with ownership of 11%. BlackRock, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 6.6% of common stock, and Royce & Associates, LP holds about 5.1% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Travis Boone is the owner of 1.4% of the company's shares.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 16 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Orion Group Holdings

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 some shares in Orion Group Holdings, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$17m worth of stock in the US$286m 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 17% stake in Orion Group Holdings. 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.

Next Steps:

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

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.