No "owner" via API if namespace is a group instead of a individual

I’m new to GitLab; please forgive me if this comes out a little muddy.

I’ve been experimenting with the GitLab API and I found that a Project query response doesn’t contain the “owner” field/parameter if the project namespace is a group. If I look at the project members using the GUI, the group owner shows up as “owner” in the list of members.

Is this expected? Can anyone explain the rational?

We’re on GitLab 10.3.3. I’m querying with: https:///api/v4/projects/168